One in a series of seven geometric circle contemporary paintings.
By Norman Carr
Circle Suite No. Four by Norman Carr, 2020, Acrylic on paper bags - 53 x 33 inches - PRIVATE COLLECTION
The BELOVED CIRCLE
Giotto won a commission from Pope Benedict XI by drawing a perfect circle. Kandinsky is rumored to have referred to the circle as his "beloved." Delaunay exploited the power of and the harmony of circles. Stella based his Protractor series on the mysticism of the half circle. These artists did not direct me to the circle. Instead, the circle brought me to these artists, and to the circle I am indebted.
The Circle is Non-Objective Composition
I humbly take my place in a long line of artists fixated on the wholeness that the circle represents and the dynamism from circle fractures. For most of the last decade my compositions have consisted primarily of geometric shapes with circles and circle fragments prominently featured.
The Aesthetics of Fracture
I painted Circle Suite No. Four in the late summer of 2020 as our nation's political, social, economic and physical health fragmented from COVID. Will we ever be reassembled? If not a return to a "melting pot," as a sturdy mosaic? Each piece distinct but integral to the whole.
Before the pandemic, I reused cloth bags to sack my purchases at checkout counters. However, in 2020 I had groceries delivered to my car. They came in paper sacks. What is a painter to do with those bags other than rip them asunder, glue them together, prime with gesso and apply paint? The result is Circle Suite No. Four.
Kintsugi
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery. As a philosophy, Kintsugi treats breakage and repair as part of an object's history rather than something to lament and patch. Compassionate repair results in beauty not despite the shattering, but because of it. Wholistic restoration results in pottery being stronger than the original.
The Gospel of Fracture
Western philosophy has similarities to Kintsugi. Theologians claim "brokenness" as our natural condition, but grace redeems and transforms. In Circle Suite No. Four, the lowly paper grocery bag has been degraded and rendered useless for carrying groceries. Reassembled, the paper became a carrier for that year's major painting. This renewal of castoff grocery sacks is transcendent. This renewal is art. This renewal is Gospel.
IN MEMORIAM
Frank Philip Stella
May 12, 1936 - May 4, 2024
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