This is the first report on this small journey of exploration. I call it small because at this time, my husband and I are traveling through the history of Art, learning and sharing what we have learned with each other and you.
I am starting with Abstract Expressionism because it is the beginning of a truly American Art group. The shift occurred with this New York School. Suddenly, Western Art moved its lens of concern to the USA. From this group, I chose to respond to “New York, New York “(1953) by Franz Kline. It now hangs at the Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo. It was created in New York and is oil on canvas. There is another painting by Kline with the same name that one made in 1958. The reaction to this painting went through different stages: initial questioning, subsequent appreciation and final understanding.
My initial reaction to New York city was quizzical. I was puzzled. At the same time, I felt hopeful and energized by the piece. Why did I come up with such a jumble of emotions? I think that I was perplexed because the painting was not obvious. I tried to find skyscrapers or something in the painting. The title was New York and that meant that it was supposed to be about New York. Was this painting what the artist saw when he looked at New York? I don’t think so. Maybe he looked at New York, had a reaction to it and then painted this work. Freed from the captivating threads of representation, Kline explored and rendered inner worlds and truths about the outer realm of New York. When the lines in “New York” moved upwards and horizontally, I felt surprise and excitement. My eyes moved up and down, left and right and then down to up on the page that showed the canvas. My eyes followed the thick black lines. So, I was really captivated by the upward slope of the two lines moving horizontally on a slight diagonal on the painting. When there was an intersection the sudden stop surprised me. There was no yield in the lines. What I mean is that when one line intersected another, neither bled nor smudged, nothing cracked or splintered, but all lines continued. Because of the way that the paint was laid on, it seemed to add to the drama of the painting. The tiny splatters made me visualize the artist’s brushes streaking across the canvas, leaving lines of thick paint, leading us in his frenetic exploration of New York. Interesting.
This painting is part of a style called motion painting I learned while writing this article. Looking at this painting without visualizing the artist at work was really impossible for me. It is supposed to be a large painting and the lines are thick width wise and the paint is laid on thick. For these reasons, I imagined the artist working strenuously. Because of the way that the lines in the painting interacted and became all of the painting, my eyes moved all the time. There was no resting point. If there had been any color, that would have given me a place to land, but Kline wanted me to soar among the heights of New York. Kline passed away at 62 from heart trouble quite suddenly. There is more of his work to appreciate though. I can’t wait.
Rule Creations 