Tuesday, January 11, 2011

The Escape.



Merriam-Webster has a rather brief definition of urbanism and modernism:
  •  URBANISM the characteristic way of life of city dwellers or the study of the physical needs of urban societies.
  • MODERNISM modern artistic or literary philosophy and practice;especially : a self-conscious break with the past and a search for new forms of expression.

The Abstract Expressionist New York in MoMA showed the variety of what is now considered modern art. Even though one may think that there isn't so much talent needed to pull such a painting off, for example the effortless splatters of Pollock or the colorful thick lines of Rothko. There is always a significant meaning for each if not for you then for the artist. As I moved from one painting to the next I saw a pattern that distinguished one artist from another, Barnett, for example always had a significant line standing out of his painting, Gorky, on the other had curvy lines forming a pattern. 

One painting that stood out and that applied to the definitions of both Urbanism and Modernism is Richard Pousette-Dart's Fugue Number 2. It added the feel of modernism because of the strong dark colors that it shows and the abstract hidden meaning of it. On the other hand, it also shows urbanism as it reminds me of graffiti on the streets of large cities. The congested presentation of it portrays the busy city streets and the idea of having a bunch of skyscrapers all clustered into one small space. Moreover, the fact he named it "Fugue" may be because he wants to escape out of this dark suffocating area and into a place he can breathe in. 

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