By Norman Carr
Hardedge painting, concrete art, and formalism are terms with merit, but a summary of two other art movements will focus this discussion of Encyclopedia of Lines and Shapes No. 2. They are nonobjective abstraction and geometric abstraction.
Encyclopedia of Lines and Shapes No. 2 by Norman Carr, 2024, acrylic on illustration board - 25 x 16 inches
Nonobjective art is spiritual according to Wassily Kandinsky who authored the book on the subject. Not spiritual in a Sunday School sense, but spiritual in a nonmaterial sense. The artist and the painting are self sufficient—noncompliant to the external material world.
I am not fully noncompliant towards nature. Nature instructs; her guidance goes unheeded at the artist’s peril. However, I can pay homage to nature without the intention to accurately or expressionistically replicate her. Encyclopedia is one attempt.
The lowest portion of the composition is rooted, grounded, heavy, and dark with somewhat cruder lines and rough semicircles. It is down to earth. The middle section commands attention through vitality; it is where the composition “lives.” The top one fourth ascends to the distant, the ethereal. While nonobjective, the composition has a genesis. From nothing representational a universe develops.
Nonobjective abstraction is half the Encyclopedia narrative. A fuller picture develops with the term geometric abstraction.
My paintings are often built as much as they are painted. Circles, squares, triangles, rectangles, and wedges are arranged on a grid (look for pencil lines between the shapes) and composed in what I intend to be dynamic harmony. Geometric abstractionists are particularly reliant on color and shapes to create value—a reason for being. Geometric abstraction might also be defined by what it is not; it is not expressionism which is practically synonymous with American abstraction.
This geometric abstractionist-slash-nonobjective abstractionist invites viewers to consider the shapes and colors of Encyclopedia of Lines and Shapes No. 2. However, my narrative should be of minimal influence because, according to Kandinsky, art’s value is determined solely by the viewer.
Encyclopedia of Lines and Shapes No. 2 is featured in:
National Watercolor Exhibition
Exhibition Dates:
October 4 - December 21
Gladys & Karl T. Wiedemann Gallery at Mark Arts - Wichita, Kansas
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