Captivated by Contemporary Abstract artists
Gordon Studer. Coming or Going, 2025. Mixed media on wood panel
Abstract art is a captivating genre that invites viewers to experience emotions and ideas beyond literal representation. Abstract art emphasizes colors, shapes, and forms to convey deeper meanings and provoke thought. At its core, abstract art encourages personal interpretation. Artists often draw from their emotions, experiences, and the world around them, creating pieces that resonate on a personal level. The beauty of abstract art lies in its freedom—it breaks away from conventional rules and allows for experimentation. This genre invites artists to explore new techniques and materials, leading to innovative expressions that challenge our perceptions of reality.
Current artists pushing the boundaries in our art world right now include Ethiopian-American visual artist Julie Mehretu. In the ink and acrylic series, "Among the Multitude" Mehertu reflects an interest in the interconnectedness of people and places. Mehretu layers, erases, and repaints, prints, and relayers with mark making and spray paint. Her abstract forms represent the complexities of social and historical narratives. In an interview on White Cube with with Adrienne Edwards, she describes her paintings as theatrical, as if the paintings were posing as a musical score, and there is a sense of being to them for what they represent about the emotion and history of human experience.
"Ideas of time, space and place are enmeshed in the work of Julie Mehretu. Drawing is fundamental to her practice, whether in works on paper, painting or printmaking. The artist’s dextrous mark-making comes together in a characteristic swirl, an act of assertion in response to social and political change." (White Cube)
Other current abstract artists include, Angelika Millmaker with her painting, Garden Party in Blue III, 2020. Richly textured, atmospheric, and yet delicate, Millmaker's work bears a resemblance to the abstract expressionist style of Cy Twombly.
Jessica Rankin creates an abstract style that combines painting, needlework, and text, using graphite, acrylic, watercolor, and embroidery thread on paper. Rankins piece, An Underwater Talisman, AL, 2024 demonstrates recent work feels like a dialogue between paint and thread, evoking a sense of curiosity about the connection between order and chaos.
Austrian artist Heimo Zobernig (b 1958) has mined various art historical moments and movements, specifically Modernism, post-Modernism, Geometric Abstraction and Minimalism, with a playful and rigorous spirit.
Since the 1980s, Zobernig has coolly unpacked modernism as formal language and as social ideology, reminding us that design (gallery architecture included) is never neutral. (Petzel)
Our next 4-day workshop at Willow Pond is on June 21st we will dive into Abstract Composition with CA artist Gordon Studer whose painting explores visions from a dreamlike state. His clean lines and bold geometric forms overplay and expose layers of contrasting colors and symbolize areas of the subconscious mind. "My paintings are visual snapshots of the intersection of my dreamworld and real world perceptions." (Studer)