Monday, August 8, 2011

AbEx Opening At the AGO!!!

Ty and I like to enjoy galleries and shows throughout the city so we enjoyed a nice afternoon just strolling the gallery... We walked through most of the exhibits... Then we tried to look for some contemporary work and found none... We were then directed to the first floor where we were appalled at the one room given to artists such as Picasso and Kandinsky...

We wished to see more Contemporary pieces...

In April, Groupon had this wicked deal on memberships at the AGO... Obviously it was too good to pass up... A dual membership for only $60...

Free entry, free coat check was good enough... But discounts of classes and items at the gift shop?.. I'm in heaven...

Then the most fabulous news... A MOMA exhibit was coming to Toronto... And not just any exhibit... An Abstract Expressionist exhibit... Pollock's, Rothko's and De Kooning's were heading our way!!!

The AGO is really good and overly thorough when it comes to broadcasting news... Constant emails and phone calls were a bit much but a really good push... Once I received news of the AbEx opening party, I was keen on buying the tickets asap... We got our tickets and we eager awaited the date... Reading the threads on facebook was alarming... 500 Tickets had sold out 2 weeks prior to the event... A second wave of 500 tickets were sold in 5 minutes of their release... We were lucky to get the tickets when we did... Thanks AGO alerts!!!

A week before the show Ty received some dreadful news and was unable to go to the opening with me... Luckily there were many keen friends willing to take his place... I was sitting next to Trisha at work and she agreed to come with me... It was even more exciting to know that she had never gone to the AGO before...


The day of the event was drawing near and the anticipation was killing me... I got dazzled up and met Trisha at the gallery... It was a delight when we received a free drink ticket for a White Cosmo, what was even more delightful was the fact that grapes were used instead of olives... Yummy!!! We spent a little time downstairs in the main concourse... There were dj's blasting the tunes and artsy people all mingling together...

Trisha and I then made our way upstairs... We took pictures with the AbEx sign knowing that cameras would not be allowed inside... I first took a picture of Trisha with flash... That's when a security guard made his way towards us... He stated that we could take pictures but there was to be no flash... I stated that we used flash because we knew we wouldn't be able to take pictures inside... Then he stated some rather disturbing but fabulous news... We could take pictures inside but with no flash!!!

On my 2nd trip I went thoroughly through the exhibit and read through everything... I like to get the whole experience... Once, Ty and I went to Ripley's believe it or not and we asked the employee how long it takes to get through... She said about 30 mins... It took us 2 hours!!! Bahahhaha...

Waiting for Ty to get his coffee (Saturday following the opening party) - His photography handiwork

 So we made our way into the exhibit... Since Ty couldn't be with me I brought Domo, a gray little doo-doo doll that we had gotten each other from a $2 machine on a dim sum trip to chinatown... That was his substitute...

What I enjoyed about the exhibit was how everything was introduced... Abstract Expressionism followed Surrealism (Art of the subconscious thought)... It was really sad to read about the God father of Abstract Expressionism - Arshile Gorky (American, 1904-1948)... His last few years were filled with a lot of pain and suffering... His barn burnt down with many of his paintings, he had surgery to remove throat cancer, he got in a car accident that broke his neck and left his painting hand paralyzed, his wife left him of 7 years and took their children and he inevitably took his life in 1948...

Abstract Expressionism derived from the horrors that were witnessed in the middle of the 20th century - World Wars, Holocaust, The atomic Bomb, Spanish Civil War, The social injustices in the United States... American Artists banded together to create a new form of art to express their feelings/anger/views on what was happening around them... With no formal subject matter, each artist developed their own unique style but still part of the movement...

Trisha really liked this piece by William De Kooning...
William De Kooning (April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) met Gorky when he arrived to America and was introduced to his fellow New York peers by Gorky...  His black and white piece still enabled to viewer to create their own forms out of the lines and shapes created by the black and white piece...

His Woman, I, 1950-52 (Not pictured) was a constant struggle... Although he painted mostly abstract pieces he always returned to the figure...
Tree in Naples
Tree in Naples was my favourite De Kooning piece out of the three exhibited... It may be partially due to the fact that I love the colour blue but I really enjoy the emphasis of the strokes of paint...

The next room was a lot larger... It held pieces by Helen Frankenthaler, Clyfford Still and the Photographers of Abstract Expressionism...

First picture featuring Tyler Domo with a Frankenthaler piece...
Frankenthaler diluted her paints and like Pollock worked on the ground...

Domo with Clyford Stills
Reading Still's story made me laugh a little... He was a really hard man to work with and rejected anything that was mainstream... And even though Abstract Expressionism broke away from the traditional subjective works, Stills did not want to be a part of it... He didn't think highly of MOMA and turned reclusive as he spent his remaining years in Maryland away from the commercial art world...

Domo with Aaron Siskind...
Photographs in this period focused on lines, shapes, forms and shadows... Creating new images from existing objects in life, they provided visual stimulation and a different view on how things in the natural world are seen...

The next room housed Lee Kranser (One of my two favourites in the exhibit), Richard Pousette-Dart, Abstract Drawings and Abstract Sculptures...

Lee Krasner
Before this exhibit I didn't know who Lee Krasner was... When I walked into this room I was immediately attracted to the large pink and purple piece... After reading her bio I felt an instant connection to her... I could relate to the kind of person she was... Her partner was Jackson Pollack... She managed his career, promoted his works and helped him artistically... But she also was an artist in her own right... She had 3 pieces in the room... For the piece on the left, Lee applied paints right from the paint tube. Dark background with white circular shapes...  Her largest piece was my favourite one... The movement and colours spoke to me... The third piece she had was painted with very soft filtered colours... Lines straight up and down the piece...


I thought the view of the ceiling and lights was uber interesting...

There were only 2 sculpture pieces in the exhibit... The taller piece reminded me of a terracotta pottery totem pole... The smaller sculpture was made of wood...

There were drawings on the south wall of the room... They were painted on various types of paper and a couple of canvases... 
Drawings and Scuplture
Domo says wassup
The next room housed Joan Mitchell and Franz Kline... Kline had a few pieces in the exhibit, there were also various books on the art period encased in the room...

One thing that really caught my eye was Kline's little autobiography board with a quote stating:

""I PAINT NOT THE THINGS I SEE BUT THE FEELINGS THAT AROUSE IN ME" - FRANZ KLINE..."

I love that idea and it reminds me of a certain someone I know quite well...  
Mr. Tyler Tilley

White Forms
 
White forms was my favourite of the three pieces displayed. Kline's pieces are so crisp, the contrast between the white and black paint really emphasize strength... Which I really like... The pieces remind me of Chinese Calligraphy. Especially this piece....

With the Chief...
"The Chief" - is a very interesting piece... The swirly lines create an imaginable image... I asked Trisha what she thought it looked like... We came up with Helicopter and Dog... Just like an Ink blot, the view decides what they see within the piece... I was really interested in capturing both Trisha and Tyler in front of this specific piece...

Joan Mitchell - Lady bug
When I first looked at Joan Mitchell's - Lady bug, I thought... What is this?.. But reading through her small bio was very interesting... She was still working in abstract but she wanted to bring back/incorporate nature into her pieces... She was painting from what she knew... She named all her pieces in a naturalistic way, hence the title Lady bug... At first glance you just notice a whole bunch of lines... Mitchell is playing with colour, adding and subtracting... She creates more negative space as she goes over already painted areas with white... She also paints standing... As you can see the paint at the very top aren't very solid and precise, she was reaching...


The next room was the first focusing on one of the infamous men of the Abstract period: Jackson Pollock. Pollock died tragically in a drunk driving accident... Throughout the exhibit there are videos of Pollock showcasing his dripping technique that he's famous for... 


The room moved in a chronological order... These smaller pieces were from his early period... as they progressively become larger as his career flourishes... They contain chairs for viewers the ability to fully delve into the piece for further visual appreciation and connection...

The larger pieces throughout the room were very intimidating... Just the scale of them just created an awe... I took a few pictures with people in them to show scale...

Tyler couldn't make it to the opening so Domo took his place...
My 2nd trip with Tyler in the same right hand corner...

I really enjoy the dark silhouettes that are created by the lights in galleries, therefore you see them a few times throughout this entry...

There were some really interesting use of paints and colours... One of the pieces remind me of Tyler's floor in his studio space... It was thick piece and contained nails, screws, cigarette butts and even a key...


The next room contained my favourite of all the AbEx visionaries... Mark Rothko... I have been enraptured with his ideas since learning about him in high school... The use of colour to convey emotion... Just that very idea... Breathtaking...

Again, the room started out in chronological order... It showcased 2 large pieces of his early works... That contained thinned out figurative pieces... It then moves to the right... I adore his brighter pieces... They feel alive and gave me a boost in spirits and mood...


He then moves into darker pieces... He has learned overtime the emotions that certain colours possess... He also used colours to play off one another... Using specific colours that appear to bleed into one another... Even the colour on the background appears to be darker in the outer corners, even tho it isn't...


I love those comfy chairs... The pieces are enormous

No.10
With my favourite Rothko piece... I am currently waiting for the call that my reserved small board of the same piece has arrived to the gallery gift shop... I love how the yellow and blue play off one another...


The next room held possibly the most perplexing piece in the entire show... Especially to the average viewer... I.E. my girlfriend Trisha... The black canvas makes you utter the words "I could paint that"... But the interesting aspect of this piece is the idea that the painter is inviting the viewer to stare at the piece... When you stare at it long enough you start to see dots in your eyes... The piece plays with visual illusion...


This skinny canvas is neat-O!
The room displayed pieces by Barnett Newman... An array of different canvases, sizes, colours... Newman himself was a narcissist and promoted his artwork and himself with the highest regards in the art world... Most people couldn't stand to be around the man...

His pieces consist mainly of two colours... The background colour, then a coloured stripe coming down right through the middle... This would make him infamous which he boasted to his not so eager listeners... His pieces were often brightly coloured with a contrasting colour as the stripe...


The room also contained one of Robert Motherwell's pieces fro his "Elegy to the Spanish Republic series" inspired by the 1930s Spanish Civil War and a small drawing from the same series... He dedicated 140 pieces to this specific series... He always portrayed the same motif... Two large balls with a rectangular figure in between... This referred to the barbaric ritual in bull fighting in which before the bull is killed, it's balls are cut off...
The last room enclosed the works of Philip Guston... Born in Canada, of course... He brings figurative back into abstract...

Zone, 1953-54
What I like about the zone is the facts about the piece... Guston worked right up against the piece... He didn't step back to see how it looked... He painted and once he was done, he was done... Wicked...

Other abstract pieces with slight figurative appear, mostly grays and pink hues...
Then this...

Edge of Town
So the background behind this piece is this... Guston had a fascination with evil... These are KKK members just taking a ride in their jalopy... They look quite happy... And that's the idea that Guston wanted to portray... What it would be like to be under the cotton mask... To be... Pure Evil...

It's a figure was right smack in the middle of the piece... An out roar in the abstract community was sounded but it was too late... It was the beginning of the next art movement...

We took a little stroll into the Gift shop that was strategically placed at the end of the exhibit... The nostalgia still in our blood... Trisha bought a card holder... On my 2nd visit... Put a Rothko board on hold, since it was sold out an all...

We headed back downstairs...

A wicked shot I took from the 2nd floor staircase...
So Trisha and I went back downstairs to enjoy some more alcoholic beverages, the modern musicians with their modern instruments and mingled with the crowd...

There were lots of types of people there... A good mix of young, old, art lovers, newbies... What I loved the most was that... There weren't any kids... LMAO...


Make sure to make your way to the Art Gallery of Ontario to check out this exhibit... We have not had an exhibit of this magnitude of this size in Toronto for a long time... The exhibit is open all summer... Come during the week day, less kids... lol...

The pieces themselves are amazing in person... It's so exciting!!! The majority of pieces are so large they wouldn't fit in a normal person's house... It's the sheer size of the pieces that also give the pieces such power...

Entrance is ticketed to ensure that the space isn't bombarded with people... It gives the viewer a better quality of noise and space to really enjoy the pieces... You can buy tickets online but I always love buying them in person and if you are a member, you can go whenever you want... Booyah!!!

Which piece is your favourite?


***This journal was started 2 months ago... I am actually quite sorry I delayed to finish because a lot of the information I gathered and the ideas I formed while actually at the show... I also took another trip to the exhibit as part of my current Advanced Painting course at the AGO...**

...Nga

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

August!!!

It's been wayyyy too long without an update and I'm sorry...

Updates will be up shortly...

I've been in a bit of an artistic slump... Damn the creative mind and our craziness...

Blurg!!!

*Nga