Abstractionists moving toward representation

[McGroarty]

"Committed abstractionists are finding themselves irresistibly drawn to the figure" claims Deidre Stein Greben in an article at Art News Online.

Alfred Leslie "got a tremendous amount of flack" some 40 years ago, when he stopped painting canvases covered with thick, broad strokes and splatters and began making large grisaille portraits. Says Leslie, "I still receive it today. Many people saw my realist work as a negation of my abstract work."

The abstract can be fun. I've enjoyed some of the Designer's Republic logo art because of the chaotic and violent motion I see in it. And some geometric pastels have been fun, where you can take a while and study why something that's so rigidly mechanical can balance a page or a canvas and make it feel warm none the less. You learn a bit about perception this way. But it's the novelty more than the substance that draws me to so much modern art, and it wears out fast. It's like sitting about and playing with the language instead of forming thoughts with it.

I'm currently enjoying Sandra Shaw's Art History lectures, wherein she demonstrates the integration of each cultures' art and philosophy. If there's truly a trend away from the ad hoc and toward representation in modern art, I'd love to believe there was a broader parallel here.