For the past 50 years, Brice Marden has blurred the lines between minimalism, abstract expressionism, and Chinese calligraphy with his gestural compositions that radiate with color. The American artist just recently opened a new solo exhibition at the Gagosian‘s Chelsea outpost.
In “These paintings are of themselves,” Marden presents eight new paintings that were inspired by the natural light the artist observed in his Tivoli studio, located in Upstate New York. Marden begins by drawing glyphs along the canvas in a pastiche that lives between writing and painting, before overlaying the composition with a network of multi-hued brushstrokes. For seven of the smaller paintings, the artist applied diluted washes of earthy terre verte to juxtapose the color fields above.
Marden’s work demands attention — Rocks is certainly a testament to that. The two-panel painting sizes in at 22-feet wide and draws the viewer in to float in and around the confines of the canvas, where abstraction and figuration are constantly in flux. “These paintings are of themselves” is on view at the Gagosian until December 23.
in other art news, Qatar Museums will convert the nation into an open-air museum.
Gagosian
541 West 24th St.
New York, NY
