Abstract Expressionism Exhibition

I went to the last day of the exhibition at the RA. I hadn't thought about these painters, sculptors and photographers together before, and hadn't heard of many of them. Their styles were very different from each other, the thing that connected them being their use of their medium to express emotions in a non-figurative way.

It being the last day it was very crowded, but it was generally hung so as to make the art visible despite this. The pale walls emphasised the often bright colours and the large size and strength of shape of many of the pieces. The rooms were arranged so as to allow comparison of earlier and later works by the same artist, and in some cases a variety of different takes on a single theme eg darkness.

This exhibition came at the time when I was finishing off 'So you think you know me: INFP' which has a rather conventional appearance, and getting into full flow working up the much more extravert and exciting feeling ENTP. It got me thinking about how much more abstract this one is going to be as a result, and exploring what that might mean. All the images here are from the Royal Academy page about the exhibition website https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/abstract-expressionism?gclid=CIn3-fHVstECFSEG0wodGIcOeQ

Willem de Kooning Pink Angels 1945

This painting was helpfully compared with the classical painting it was derived from. The sweet pink and the feminine shapes make this an exploration of the line between figurative and abstract. How much can you change it without it losing its essential features? In this case you can lose all but two colour groups and most of the detail. It works by losing complexity. This is something that has been on my mind for a while now when I'm going through the process of making something. It is more often what I choose to leave out which gives something it's strength. ....more about this exhibition another day.

#Otherartists