Royal Academy of Art- Abstract Expressionism

On the 1st of December, I went to the Abstract Expressionism exhibition in the RA. This exhibition was very interesting and opened my eye to a different ways I can use my ideas to make an outcome. Also, I learned how to create a lot of detail through there not being a realist image show through the media that you use.

Photo- I took of the book that I got at the exhibition

As well, I learnt more about the history of Abstract Expressionism and the range of styles that the different artist showed through the movement. From sculptures to large and small painting to photography, they all had many different styles within them, making for a diverse viewing experience through this exhibition.

Photo I took of the statue and the flag/sign

This exhibition also opened me to many different artists that I am thinking of using within my practices, in the likes of Lee Krasner (1908- 1984), where I saw her piece called The Eye Is The First Circle (1960). Krasner does a style of work which really connects closely to my type of work through the way I use natural elements, mud and clay. Krasner uses a natural pallet but she uses oil paint instead. However, I feel that the way she create so much movement within her piece, this a painting style that I feel that I can really work within my practices.

Krasner was a major figure in the American Abstract Expressionist movement. She mainly worked in oils, inks and mixed media collages. She used her own cut up paintings and drawings to create large collages. She exhibited with the American Abstract Artist group and met her husband Jackson Pollock through these exhibits. She was greatly influenced by Herri Matisse and Piet Mondrian and studied under Hans Hofmann. “Painting… in which the inner and the outer man are inseparable, transcends technique, transcends subject and moves into the realm of the inevitable,” she said, freeing her from formalised structures. 

Krasner's piece of me has many different hidden images, within the exhibition I was talking to a fellow student and they said to me that they could see a tiger within a jungle on the left side of the painting. Also, you can see many different faces and shapes with look like quick drawings of eyes. This to me add depths to this piece because there is some much different detail to this piece to make for many different interpretations from the audience/

Image from www.artsy.net (couldn't take photos at the exhibition)

Also the layout relationship between Krasner's and Pollock's and David Smith work within the exhibition was very interesting that workout and learn. So straight down the walk way past other artist's work is the part where Pollock's two main large piece which mirror each other. The Pollock piece that mirror each other are Mural (1943) and Blue Poles (1952). They mirror each other through the way it shows the evolution of Pollock's work, there is a 9 year difference between.

Jackson Pollock (1912- 1952)
Mural
1943
Oil and Caseinon canvas

Image of Mural from uima.uiowa.edu (website)

Commissioned by Peggy Guggenheim in the hallway of her Manhattan townhouse, this is Pollock's large work. Mural's vastness heralds a new energy and scale in Abstract Expressionism; by no coincidence, both Rothko and Gorky produced their largest canvases, the following year. The painting, abstract style permits the suggestion of many forms, these vestiges of figuration reflects Pollock's creative struggle with Picasso. 

Smith's sculpture 'Tanktotem 3' (located nearby) evokes a prancing bestial presence spun at of Mural into three dimensions. 

Image of Tanktotem from
http://pastexhibitions.guggenheim.org/
(website)

David Smith began his second series, the Tanktotems, in 1952. In these works he established a bold new aesthetic statement, dispensing with pedestals and creating sculptures that could stand directly on the floor. Tanktotem 3 I was told that the shape that the sculpture is similar to the shapes that are in Pollock's Mural piece. I found this very interesting that the layout in the RA show the relationship between these two artists and how one artist get inspired by the other to create their piece.








Jackson Pollock
Blue Poles
1952
Oil, enamel and aluminium paint with glass on canvas

Image of Blue poles from http://www.jackson-pollock.org (website)

The Most iconic of Pollock's late-period paintings, Blue Poles represents one of the pinnacles of his achievement. Its position here, opposite 'Mural', effectively 'book ends' the climatic decade of Pollock's meteoric career. Its seeming spontaneity actually belies the careful process of its creation, while tiny shards of glass embedded across the surface amplify its spectacular, crackling forcefulness. The stricture makes reference to the composition diagrams used by Pollock's teacher. Thomas Hart Benton, as well as to the 'processional' figuration that Pollock first definitively established in 'Mural'. 

The main element in this piece which interested the most was that there was more to this paint then I thought there was. For example there is bits of broken glass within the paint that adds more detail and depth to the piece when you see it in person. This made me enjoy this piece more because I have seen this piece many time but only within books and online, mean that I never got to see the amazing levels of details that Pollock has been able to make within this piece. This has now inspired me within my practice to found and made more hidden elements to make more details within my pieces.   

The interesting relationship between Pollock's own work and David Smith show me an effective way of layout work. However, even though I do like all the different piece I still feel that their style doesn't work into my practices so I'm not really going to use them throughout. But I will be looking in more depth at Krasner's work because she fits my style more.

Overall, The Abstract Expressionism exhibition was a very enjoyable and eye opening experience and I was able to come up with many different ideas from looking at these different artists within the exhibition.