As often happens with canon artists (given their numbers), I discovered recently while writing about my own practice that I had yet to blog about Johannes, one of the greatest colorists of the Modern era (probably only slightly less well known than Josef Albers). He was a Swiss expressionist painter, designer, teacher, writer and theorist associated with the Bauhaus school.
#johannesitten
I’m often surprised, though I shouldn’t be given how broad and deep the canon is, that pieces of that story are missing from a blog that covers 1,500 plus artists (this btw for those who are new). Leon Polk Smith was an American painter. His geometrically oriented abstractpaintings were influenced by Piet Mondrian and he is a follower of the Hard-edge school. His best-known paintings constitute maximally reduced forms, characterized by just two colors on a canvas meeting in a sharply delineated edge.
More (Leon Polk Smith Foundation)
#leonpolksmith
was a Swiss painter and graphic artist and one of the main representatives of the concrete and constructive art movements along with Max and others.
#richardpaullohse
Camille Graeser was a Swiss painter and member of the circle of Zurich Concrete artists along Verena and Max.
#camillegraeser
like Lisa is in the faculty show at Meredith. In his statement he addresses the idea of sacrifice and the internal challenges of selflessness. “The juxtaposition between our internal emotions and external action is conveyed through the use of contrasting colors and textures. The areas that lack definition or detail, depict uncertainty and apprehension. The use of abstraction allows the focus to be placed on the interaction between elements, instead of what they represent.”
#cameronjohnson
was in the Zurich Concrete school along with Verena (and others) which was one of the staunchest formalist movements of the last century. Bill said their Art “without external reference to natural phenomena or their transformation” and that it was “the expression of the human spirit, intended for the human mind, and it is of that sharpness, clarity and perfection that must be expected from works of the human spirit.”
#maxbill
recently juried and curated This is the Future of Non-Objective Art! at Atlantic Gallery which has quite a roster (Amy is included among others I will be learning and blogging about soon). Brian at Sound & Vision did a pod with her recently also.
More
#suzanshutan
Born in 1912, Swiss artist Verena Loewensberg was a leading figure of the influential Zurich school of concrete artists. The only female member of the group, which also included Max Bill, Camille Graeser and Richard Paul Lohse, Loewensberg distinguished herself through her oeuvre’s formal and chromatic flair. In her work, structured oil compositions are animated by wide-ranging color and shape, yielding a precise yet poetic art. Hauser & Wirth has organized Kind of Blue to celebrate the same.
#verenaloewensberg
gets a nod for The Pursuit of Unhappiness & All the Small Things at Marinaro in Two Coats of Paint NYC Selected Gallery Guide: February 2024 edition.
#bernardbuhman
Advancing Mystified Perspective is one of Artsy’s 5 standout small gallery shows to check out this January.
#reishikusaka
Debra is a self-taught painter, beginning at 12 years old in acrylic, always painting bright colors, forms, shapes and text. She attended Rowan University and then she also received her certificate for interior design at NYU. Her other art interests are photography, collage, landscaping design and writing. Through the years, her artistic language has changed from literal to abstract and vague. She like to use colors and shapes and forms as a language. In 2016, she formed 1milliondiamonds as away not only to help herself catalog art with its own semiotic language that was inspiring, but also to promote artists that were making art that others have not seen.
#debralynnmanville
is an American artist who makes abstract paintings characterized by luminous color, sensuous surfaces, and iconic geometric configurations. His works are composed as sensate visual events that embody potential states of being. They invite meditative encounters with the viewer’s perception and imagination.
#stevenalexander
Painting After Art is Dead 