Retrospective of Mercedes Matter

I just did some writing for Mercedes Matter: A Retrospective Exhibition at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, IA (September 4, 2010 through January 2, 2011). This first major museum exhibition devoted to the Abstract Expressionist artist Mercedes Matter (1913-2001) spans her career from 1922 through 2000.

There will be two of my oil paintings (from 2002 & 2010) on loan; and I will be sending the following statement: "The things I learned from Mercedes Matter's teaching remain acutely specialized. Because of them I'm sure, I've been referred to as a cubist. No matter how many mutations I take my work through since then, the ways I arrange the structure and color remain steadfast. It is very satisfying to pay attention in making those choices so specific. In composing images today, I feel I can endow the illusion of space with many different (art historically retroactive) possibilities to enhance the portrayal of subject and meaning. Mercedes also relayed big lessons to her pupils, such as 'the greatest discipline as an artist is getting what you want'."

Mercedes' retrospective. The artist website has been around for at least 10 years. It's quite neat. Mercedes Matter

Nicolas Caroni dies

(Post fed as reference to wikipedia.org page on Nicolas Carone)

Lohin Geduld Gallery in Chelsea made the following statement today:

"Nicolas Carone, 1917 - 2010. It is with sadness that we tell you of the death of Nicolas Carone. Nick died at his home in Hudson, NY on July 15. Nick touched many lives as an inspiring teacher and brilliant artist."

According to wikipedia, Nicolas Carone was "an Italian-American painter and sculptor, born June 4, 1917 in New York City and raised in Hoboken, New Jersey. Carone belonged to the early generation of New York School Abstract Expressionist artists, whose artistic innovation by the 1950s had been recognized across the Atlantic, including Paris."

I find there to be a humorous stroke of irony in the way Nick Carone and his work gets tied to the subject of Abstract Expressionism. As far as I can see, there's seldom any mention that Carone's pictures were most often figurative throughout the span of his life. An example is this work done when he was eighty-six.

Untitled, 2003, mixed media on paper, 10 3/4 x 11 inches (private collection)