Art as a path to the sublime: Agnes Martin at Tate

I have a bit of time today, so thought I would talk briefly about the Agnes Martin show at Tate:
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/agnes-martin

Unexpectedly, I found I had a day longer in London last weekend than I thought, so took the opportunity to see the show.

I can honestly say, it is one of the best exhibitions I have ever been to, and I've been to many.  First up: the place was almost empty, which is the best way for a gallery to be, even better for an Agnes Martin show, which requires deep looking and thought in a peaceful environment.

The curation and hang is superb; Martin was in the habit of re-acquiring early work in order to destroy it, here we have examples of her entire life's work.  The examples of early work, while not as interesting to me; they are derivative of other artists's works and movements ( Surrealism, Cubism for example); they were useful as part of the context of her development, as with any retrospective.  For example, Martin's colours remained pretty much the same throughout her career:  neutrals or mostly very pale hints of colours; like looking at colours behind a veil. Where she use stronger tones the colours are still mostly neutrals although stronger colour is occasionally evident.  I was fascinated by this thread throughout her life's work.  It is interesting to see how her work changed when she moved to New York, becoming full of life, expectation and experiment and the moment when she cast off curved lines to embrace the grid, vertical and horizontal line.

Each space provides the work room to breath; the fact that the gallery was almost empty helped of course, but these works require time and contemplation and the hang enables this.  One of the rooms, 7 I think, had cleverly screened a floor to ceiling window with fine white fabric, filtering the light but allowing the grid of the window design to show through, echoing the grids of Martin's work.

Martin's works on paper are equally enthralling, room 10, "presents a retrospective within a retrospective", to quote Tate.  Room 6  shows a collection of silk screen prints published by Parasol Press in 1973 that she had worked on in Stuttgart the previous year.  I found these interesting because Martin had expressed a need to "straighten out her lines" because she could "never paint straight enough".  The slight waverings of her lines in the paintings, creating optical wobbles and movement is one of the aspects of her work that I enjoy; the imperfections of the straight lines reflecting the frailty of human existence and evidence of the artist's hand at that particular moment in time.  However, this desire to straighten out the lines provides us with an insight into her nature; I suspect she was not all sensitive and vulnerable; there is a doggedness, a determination about Martin's continual exploration of line, grid and surface that shows strength of mind and character, whilst acknowledging the frailty of her mental health.  You'd have to be bloody minded to keep on making canvasses of the sizes she selected and to continue exploring her themes as she did.

Room 9:

"My paintings have neither objects nor space nor time nor anything - no forms.  They are light, lightness, about merging, about formlessness, breaking down form"  Agnes Martin, 1966.

The highlight of the entire exhibition for me.  This suite of twelve paintings, The Islands, all white canvasses each 182.9 x 182.9 cm square, are utterly beautiful.  They are so sensitively curated; instead of the usual wire barrier that sounds an alarm should any visitor get too close, there is a platform about eight inches high all round the room beneath the paintings, keeping visitors the same distance from the work.  The walls are painted a shell like tone of palest lilac allowing the works to communicate without any visual struggle. These works require time and patience; I could have stayed in there all day and more. 

Tate describes them as Martin's most silent works.  Their surfaces require intense scrutiny to appreciate their surfaces and fine lines; Martin was interested in East Asian philosophy and spirituality and they reflect this.  I found myself becoming intensely emotional while looking at these works, it was a really profound experience.

On considering why this was so, I think it was the sheer scale of the group that reflect, for me, Martin's intense scrutiny of herself through painting.  I was not overwhelmed by them because I thought they referenced my scant knowledge of Martin's fragile mental health but because of the absolute commitment, determination and focus that these paintings express.

I am not going to describe the entire exhibition, I could not do it justice.  It is a wonderful example of how an artist can produce a profound body of work throughout their life by sticking with and honing one idea, building on it as understanding and experience grows.  I cannot recommend this exhibition enough, it is a "must see".

"You are what goes through your mind, whether you are aware of it  or not, you know, and if you can become aware of it and then if you can try and express it, you are an artist", Agnes Martin, video, Road Trip



(Quotes are taken from Tate literature and web site).

Interesting reviews:
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/jun/07/agnes-martin-retrospective-review-tate-modern

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/jun/01/agnes-martin-review-tate-modern-grid-paintings

http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2015/06/agnes-martin-tate-modern

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/11643368/Agnes-Martin-Tate-Modern-review-immaculate.html

http://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/agnes-martin-retrospective-review-tate-modern-london

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/agnes-martin-at-tate-modern-a-zenlike-quest-for-beauty-10290161.html

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Drains, Mounting and Framing

The builders were on site again today, working on the drains, which are in a terrible state.  Once again there is mud everywhere and I was called on regularly for tea and to take photographs.  They need tea to keep warm, and the photographs are for our records, so we know where all the various pipes are.

So, what with all that going on, and my need to go out to the studio to collect my metal rules, it was pretty late in the afternoon by the time I got to work.

It was a pretty enjoyable task really, and I was grinning to myself, because the space I was using at home, (what was my studio; I managed to clear the top of the plan chest to work on), rapidly became littered with strips of paper trimmings, bits of tape and various art works.  It reminded me of Mounting Week: a very important week in the calendar in the art department where I worked for ten years before moving up here.  

I started with the lino prints, all artist proofs. These are pieces I made in the early part of my course at art college, I'd almost forgotten about them and was glad to uncover them the other day when I was searching for things that I thought Linda and Mark from my local pub might like.   

I floated them on the mount board and , as the frames I bought in Ikea yesterday were almost exactly the right size, they ended up looking pretty good:

I am so glad I chose the grey frames, they suit the prints much better than black would have done because some of the blacks in the print are "greyed" by the other colours on top or underneath.  The prints themselves are not square, so I had to line them up by eye as best I could.  I didn't want to window mount them to make them square, (anyway, there was not room for this with these frames), because I am very interested in the irregularities of the edges in my work.

My resident photographer took some good pics of these and I'll post them up as soon as he gets back from his travels and has had time to check the colour balance.

A Relief in More Ways Than One

So, Obama is re-elected President of the United States, I was up all night watching developments with unease to begin with and relief by the end.  Congratulations to him and good luck - he will need it.

I worked on what should be the final draft of my Grants for the Arts application yesterday, finished all the attachments, did the  final word count and read through.  It's a bit over the word count, but I think it will be ok.  It reads well, and all in all, I am hopeful for a positive response so that I can get on with what I am best at: making work.  It will go off to Yvette for the final scrutiny this morning, and all being well, I press "send" tomorrow. 

I shall be so glad to have the application out of the way as I desperately need to get back in to the studio.  I never did get those experimental relief prints finished in time for the open submission in Hull, so I am keen to keep on with those.  I have one of a series of four collagraphs based on the seasons started, so it will be good to develop them.  I have a few ideas buzzing around in my head for some drawings too . . .

 

Some of the drawings I have done in my Chinese notebooks would make great etchings, and I plan to start work on some next year, when I have more time to concentrate and brush up on my printmaking skills.  It is a long time since I have made etchings, but I had a great teacher in Paul Ryan at Basingstoke College of Technology, where I did my Foundation course, so I am sure it won't take me too long before I am making some interesting prints.

Meanwhile there is a massive clean up going on at home after the plastering was completed upstairs and I need to get the rest of my studio equipment and library of art books and catalogues out of storage because I really need access to them now.  So, lots to do and exciting times ahead.

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A Good Day

It's been a very good day, despite a poor start with the discovery of a mouse in the house!


After a solid afternoon in the studio, I rushed home to change and we went on to Duckett and Jeffreys Gallery in Malton, for the private view of Dawn Brooks' show, "Sequence",  a series of prints that utilise drypoint etching, drawing and collagraph .  Certainly worth the rush; Dawn's work is wonderful, exploring mark making, some of them looking like script or automatic writing; Dawn dips into her subconscious when making the work.  There was a small print that utilised embossing combined with the inked etched marks that I thought was particularly sensitive. 

My favourite print is the piece that includes a grid and on talking to Dawn about it, she said it is the piece that gave her the most trouble to resolve.  I would find it interesting to visit her studio again, to watch her go through the process of making her work.  Some of the prints include carborundum too, adding to the richness of the texture. 

It is a good show, I recommend it and think all the artists in Ryedale should go and see it before it closes.



Pictures of the next stages of my current paintings:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

www.dawnbrooks.co.uk

www.duckettandjeffreys.com

all images copyright of the artist