Matisse at the Metropolitan Museum

I recently went to the Metropolitan Museum to view the latest Matisse exhibit "Matisse in Search of True Painting."  I have always enjoyed many of Matisse's paintings in particular his strong use of color and shape.  What was particularly interesting to me was to see his process.  Before he finished a painting he would rework it, sketch it, overpaint it many times.  What appears to be a simplistic piece of work was often a very thought out and carefully rendered work of art.  As part of the exhibit, the process he went through is displayed below:

Abstracting a Landscape or Interior

Recently my class was given the assignment to create an abstraction from a landscape or interior.  Duncan Grant's "Interior at Gordon Square" was the example as part of the show at the MOMA "Inventing Abstraction."  Below is an image of his painting:

I took that as an opportunity to create my own landscape using dimensional materials, primarily wooden triangles and cylinders, adding some pieces of grid paper and then adhering everything onto cardboard, and finally mounting the piece on an off- white board.  I created this from looking at a print of an old-fashioned town with many little houses and a waterfall.  Below is the finished piece:

My latest gift for a new baby

I just finished this wall hanging for my great-nephew Felix.  I painted the frame and background along with the letters to match his room.  Then I added paper collage and finally glued on farm animals.  Now it's packed and ready to be flown out to California.  Have a safe trip!  If anyone is interested in purchasing a unique piece, my contact information is sfidlon@gmail.com.

Chained To Time

My latest assemblage is an homage to "The Clock" the film that I mentioned in an earlier blog that I recently saw at the MOMA.  Using different clock faces both found as well as ones I printed, an old clock casing that resembles a piece of luggage, a mannequin, an old chain, some paint and glue I created a 3 dimensional piece that I titled "Chained To Time"  Because the upper part of the mannequin can be manipulated I photographed it in 3 different positions.

Gifts for Babies and Children's Rooms

Some of the things I make are wall decorations for new babies or young children using their names.  Below are some examples.   I am currently working on one for my new great nephew and I am available to take commissions if anyone is interested in a unique, one of a kind gift.  The hand painted letters are decorated with various findings - stones, jewelry etc.

"Dreaming With Balloon"

 

"Inventing Abstraction" is a current exhibit at the Museum of

Modern Art www.moma.org and is the basis for the syllabus for this semester's class on collage.  Two of the artists whose work I appropriated are Paul Strand and Henryk Berlewi and the result is featured in the collage at the right.  I cut up Berlewi's very linear work and then added an old photo of an unknown person and gave him a red balloon to hold.

If you cannot visit the museum and see this excellent show in person, I suggest you go to the MOMA website and click on "Inventing Abstraction".  It is a terrific alternative to being there in person.

Picasso Black and White: The Guggenheim NYC

"Picasso Black and White is the first exhibition to explore the remarkable use of black and white throughout the Spanish artist’s prolific career. Claiming that color weakens, Pablo Picasso purged it from his work in order to highlight the formal structure and autonomy of form inherent in his art. His repeated minimal palette correlates to his obsessive interest in line and form, drawing, and monochromatic and tonal values, while developing a complex language of pictorial and sculptural signs. The recurrent motif of black, white, and gray is evident in his Blue and Rose periods, pioneering investigations into Cubism, neoclassical figurative paintings, and retorts to Surrealism. Even in his later works that depict the atrocities of war, allegorical still lifes, vivid interpretations of art-historical masterpieces, and his sensual canvases created during his twilight years, he continued to apply a reduction of color."

I just returned from this exhibit at the Guggenheim guggenheim.org which ends on January 23.  This is a very extensive show encompassing almost the entire museum.  Picasso's output was remarkable and it was especially interesting to see his work in a monochromatic palette.  One could focus on his use of line and form and see the clear progressions of his work from his early blue period to the cubist and finally to his late works.  By focussing on these elements I was able to understand his great strength and brilliance as an artist.  I totally recommend this exhibit.

My homage to Picasso in color: