Assembled out of twisted wire, an accordion - like plane, and pieces of metal the artist has cut, the undated «Thin Woman» resides in that
space between abstraction and figuration without tilting into either.
Through a powerful and cohesive series of oil paintings, as well as slide projections and light installations, his landscapes exist in the point of
tension between abstraction and figuration, between apparition and emptiness.
Moving away from the traditional
divide between abstraction and figuration, Stingel's approach reveals his fundamental questioning of the institution of painting today — authenticity, hierarchy, individuality, and meaning.
Associating his influences with Social Realists «he fell in with» when he arrived in New York, Sims describes them as «a cohort of individuals who bridged the
gap between abstraction and figuration... the use of energetic color and gesture, and a sensibility that would be described as gritty.»
This «push - pull» of contrasting color and contiguous form lies at the very heart of his work and succinctly epitomizes the conflict
between abstraction and figuration with which many artists of his generation struggled.
Throughout his career, Mullican addressed the apparent
conflict between abstraction and figuration, the absorption of both Western and non-Western sources, and the relationship between form and content — in short, issues that are central to the art of the second half of the twentieth century.
To name one of the female artists whose works achieved impressive sales at the fair; Cecily Brown, whose work
situates between abstraction and figuration, proved popular at Thomas Dane Gallery and all works by the artist were sold within the first hour of the VIP preview.
Since the beginning of his career, Stingel's practice has been engaged with the possibilities of painting, creating works that exist
precariously between abstraction and figuration, advancing a methodical examination of a medium whose validity has repeatedly been called into question throughout the twentieth and twenty - first centuries.
Only a few years out of RISD, the 31 - year - old painter Ted Gahl performs a captivating tightrope -
walk between abstraction and figuration, creating canvases that seem to harness stylistic elements of artists as diverse as de Kooning, Diebenkorn, El Greco, and Matisse.
«Nowadays, in an age when the
choice between abstraction and figuration is dismissed as a false dichotomy, and when younger artists imbue their work with once - taboo narrative and autobiography, Mr. Hockney is an artist of unassailable relevance.
In her paintings of the 70s, Steir often combined realistically painted flowers with a grid or color field, on one hand paying homage to admired Minimal artists Sol LeWitt and Agnes Martin, and on the other, questioning the
dichotomy between abstraction and figuration.
This jewel - like series of eight panel reliefs hovers between dual registers: between painting and sculpture, between the singular and the serial, between movement and stasis and
even between abstraction and figuration, as each viewer is mirrored in the smooth, unpainted sections of the supports.