FORMAL | LOOSE | PAINTING CURATED BY JENNIFER MURRAY Samantha Bittman Michelle Bolinger Anna Kunz February 19 – April 11, 2015 Ralph Arnold Gallery
Samantha Bittman | Untitled, 2014 | 20 x 20 inches acrylic on handwoven textile (on front) Anna Kunz | Peel, 2015 | 10 x 16 x 4 feet latex on wall and fabric, latex and enamel on canvas
A CONTEMPORARY CONVERSATION REGARDING PAINTING AND THUS, ABSTRACTION By Amanda Roscoe Mayo
(and certainly abstract painting) is not dead.
The term abstraction is one of the most loaded terms in art. It is charged with a
It is alive and well in all corners of the world
history that has rewritten itself more times
and most especially in Chicago. Chris Martin’s
over than arguably any other term and
essay in the Brooklyn Rail from 2003 succinctly
represents numerous theories. The two
sums up where the line between history and
most likely understandings of the word are
the contemporaneous resides:
the abstraction of figure or an object that
Abstract painting contains powerful
exists in the world and pure or expressive
limitations and extraordinary freedom.
abstraction, which is born out of process and
Great abstract paintings can be the result of
seeks a response from both the maker and the
a tremendous condensation of information.
viewer that is emotive and/or transcendent.
An abstract painting can be a tight
At the time of this exhibition, Formal | Loose |
tough form with which to transmit huge
Painting, a surge in conversation surrounding
content…The painting enters vision fast
contemporary painting practices and
but continues to flow into consciousness
abstraction is well underway. Conferences
as it releases it’s meaning slowly over time.
have been held in the past two years in
We live with the image and it lives with us.
Norway and San Francisco on the subject,
This is what the soul needs—long periods
numerous think pieces have been written for
of slow focused contemplation.1
art publications, and in 2014 a monumental (if not problematic) exhibition on painting
Formal | Loose | Painting at Ralph Arnold
practices of this current millennium was
Gallery on Loyola University Chicago’s
mounted at the behemoth MoMA entitled,
campus presents the work of three prominent
The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World. Much to the chagrin of Arthur Danto and other art critics, painting
1 Chris Martin. Everything is Finished Nothing is Dead: An Article About Abstract Painting. Brooklyn Rail, April 1, 2003.
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artists working in Chicago across several generations, with one major binding effort: paint. Samantha Bittman, Michelle Bolinger, and Anna Kunz have crafted distinct practices in their approach to using paint. It is telling that this exhibition is on view at a place of academic study as formalism is often at the core when painting is discussed. While it can be emotive and elicit those responses, painting is a scholarly and intellectual effort. Pedagogy has long taught the monumental importance of form, color, light, and composition to young artists. Artists who then turn formalism on its head only to have it sneak back into the work. The grouping of these artists represents a focused look into contemporary painting practice now as it stands in Chicago. Samantha Bittman | Untitled, 2013 | 17 x 11 inches acrylic on handwoven textile
The beauty of the conversation surrounding contemporary practices in painting is that it is no longer confined to the limits of painting.
two-dimensional and cohesive rather than
Samantha Bittman’s work, for example, relies on an entirely different ground, one that
layered. The eye sees shape, ground, and
consists of hand-woven textiles. The paint
color as one image. The content of the
becomes an addition to portraying an image
image often relays data and transmission
of sorts so that presently the work remains
breaking down pattern from an existing set of principals informed by weaving technology. Paint becomes the response to the parameters of the loom. For Formal | Loose | Painting Bittman exhibits works on the wall as well as Untitled (2013), a floor piece most obviously referencing pixilation and the aforementioned patterns resulting in seemingly endless sets of visual information.
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(above) Samantha Bittman | Untitled, 2013 | 6 x 6 feet MDF tiles and spray paint (right) Samantha Bittman | Untitled, 2014 | 20 x 16 inches acrylic on handwoven textile
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(above) Michelle Bolinger Moon Moves Moves, 2013 | 12 x 12 inches oil on board (left) Michelle Bolinger Harness Harness, 2012 | 12 x 12 inches oil on board
(right) Michelle Bolinger Night Hut, 2014 | 12 x 12 inches oil on board
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Both these tiles and the act of weaving situate
paintings, which profess their identity most
Bittman’s work in another history as rich and
directly as such. The paintings presented in
extensive as painting: craft. The sculpture
this exhibition hold a charged entity of move-
itself most directly references the great floor
ment at their center. Color and surface
works of Carl Andre, but rather than use
meld seamlessly akin to the technique and
industrious material, Bittman’s choice to hand
mastery of a Paul Klee. For Bolinger the
make and paint each tile referencing both
content of these works comes entirely out
craft and contemporary painting elevates
of process, the pictorial relationships hinge
this work into the 21st century and the larger
on color, form, non-objectivity, and layering.
conversation of how this conversation has
Moon Moves (2013) and Night Hut (2014)
departed from it’s own history.
are two of the six one foot square candy colored paintings included that mesmerize
The most literal translation of this exhibition
the mind and speak to Bolinger’s practice
lies in Michelle Bolinger’s work. The works are
both past and present. Moon Moves houses
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the closest thing to a horizon line seen in the show, which is noteworthy as this at one point was of the utmost importance in debating whether abstraction was of existing form or an entity birthed from the artist’s consciousness. The title and the visual language of this work represents the first option best while Night Hut et al carries an entirely new set of directives. The ground of the painting is layered so precisely and thoroughly patterns beyond patterns and textures emerge through the paint only to be flattened entirely by an almost contained cotton candy colored vessel. Anna Kunz’s large-scale installation in this exhibition speaks to the final corner of abstraction and the experience at large. Geometric fields based on the aspects of a rectangle, bisect the space both inviting and engulfing the viewer. Kunz’s practice makes Anna Kunz Outside In, 2013 | 11 x 4 x 14 feet latex and acrylic on fabric and wood, Plexiglas photo: Tom Van Eynde
reference to the stage, the body, and the visceral proficiency color has on the mind. Peel (2015, cover image) is a new installation for Formal | Loose | Painting, but employs Kunz’s signature practice of painting directly on scrim, the shadow of paint left behind on the wall once the scrim is removed, mixed
Opposite (top) Anna Kunz Pryamus and Thisbe, 2011 | 10 x 14 x 12 feet latex and acrylic on wall and fabric, natural light (bottom) Anna Kunz 2nd Avenue, 2012 | 12 x 14 x 12 feet latex on wall, floor and fabric, natural light, photo: Etienne Frossard
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with physical paintings and the re-structuring
It is timelier than ever to heed Kaprow’s
of space. The body becomes integral to this
words and stop expecting something more
work as its movement in, out, and around the
from painting than what it is willing to give.
space causes the work to shift, move, play,
Not knowing what will happen when in
and become complete. The artist’s process
its presence is the most exciting thing to
of making these works can be likened to a
anticipate. It is time now to consider how
happening as she responds to the constant
these Chicago artists are building on their
state of flux while making the work, which
own explorative practices towards a new
also uniquely applies to the way in which
understanding of painting.
the viewer interacts with the piece. In his seminal text describing the Happenings in the New York Scene (1961) Allan Kaprow offers this definition, “Happenings are events that, put simply, happen.” Kunz’s practice does not organize an event in the way we normally think about Kaprow’s “happenings”2 but it offers the stage in which one is able to intimately orchestrate a happening of their own if they so choose, “much like a contemporary painting, where we do not know exactly what is going to happen next.” 3 2 Allan Kaproq. Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1993, p. 15 3 ibid. p. 18
Amanda Roscoe Mayo is an independent curator and arts and music journalist based in Chicago, exhibiting nationally and published internationally. She received her master’s degree in curatorial practice from California College of the Arts in San Francisco. The exhibitions she produces are critically curated to engage a multi-generational dialogue with a focus on emerging artists. In addition to her numerous curatorial projects, she is a regular contributing music, arts, and film writer for Mosshouse and San Francisco Arts Quarterly (SFAQ). While in San Francisco she wrote for KQED Arts as a music and film journalist.
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Michelle Bolinger Two Sided, 2012 | 12 x 12 inches oil on board
RALPH ARNOLD GALLERY Ralph Arnold Fine Arts Annex 1131 W. Sheridan Road Chicago, IL 60660 Established by Loyola University Chicago in 2010, the Ralph Arnold Gallery is located on Loyola’s beautiful Lake Shore Campus. An educational exhibition space, the Ralph Arnold Gallery is a venue for cultural enrichment which sustains an active roster of professional and community-oriented exhibitions, providing opportunities for artists, curators, students, and the public to engage in and be inspired by varied art and design practices. The vital role visual arts play in society, and in Loyola’s liberal arts curriculum are central to the design and focus of our dynamic exhibitions, lectures, and events. Our exhibition program demonstrates the diverse talents of visual artists, Loyola faculty, and students from local, regional, national, and international fields. In addition, selected lectures by artists or curators are offered at the gallery, and all events are free and open to the public. For more information about upcoming exhibitions and about other arts programming by the Department of Fine and Performing Arts, visit our blog blogs.LUC.edu/ArtsAlive