The Death of American Spiritualty (1987) by David Wojnarowicz (1954 – 1992) contains a number of the artist’s recurring symbols and imagery densely layered in a single composition. With its radically juxtaposed motifs that suggest different temporalities — from geological landforms to emblems of the American West and the Industrial Revolution — the mythical tableau depicts destruction proliferating alongside technological advancement and geographic conquest.
In many of her recent works, Julie Mehretu confronts extreme global events and their impact on our senses of time, space, and belonging. She based Hineni (2018)on images of the 2017 northern California wildfires, and the burning of Rohingya homes in Myanmar, as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: Julie Mehretu, Hineni (E. 3:4)→
Lynda Benglis‘ work of poured latex takes painting to an extreme. Despite employing a medium, that is not itself paint, Benglis nonetheless draws attention to paint’s essential, primary properties: color and liquidity. To make Contraband (1969), the artist created, mixtures of powdered pigment and latex in 5-gallon cans that she then poured and let run on the floor with minimal intervention. Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: Lynda Benglis, Contraband→
The only painting in which Edward Hopper depicts a cinema screen, New York Movie (1939) is one of the artist’s most compelling and spatially complex theater pictures. This work depicts three distinct features within the movie house: the screen, the moviegoers watching it, and the usher tasked with watching them. The space itself is an amalgam of hoppers on-site research from four New York theaters: the Globe, Palace, Republic, and Strand. Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: Edward Hopper, New York Movie→
Agnes Pelton (1881 – 1961)Â strove to portray a spiritual realm beyond material appearances. Her artistic breakthrough came in the mid-1920s in a series of abstract paintings, depicting incorporeal subject matter such as air, light, water, and sound. In the decades that followed, as she began to immerse herself in the study of esoteric and occult philosophies, her imagery evolved. Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: Agnes Pelton, Resurgence→
