oil on canvas David Grudniski - My child could do that

My child could do that

My child could do that!
I think much of the general population has the impression that art is based on aesthetic values and not world class values which contradicts the idea that some of the greatest critical thinkers of all time have been artists.

The internet has provided an expansive porthole for art and art history but understanding why we artists create what we create is best understood through biographical examples.

This is the beginning of a new survey series of articles called “Defining Art”.

These articles will encompass artist bio’s , artists quotes, definitions and contemporary and historical movements in art. I will attempt to simplify as much as I can, including just enough pertinent information to give you a taste of the spirit of Art.

Arshile Gorky, the Father of Abstract Expressionism

April 15th 1904 - Died July 21st 1948

Vostanik Manoog Adoyan (commonly known as Arshile Gorky) was an Armenian-American painter who had a fatherly influence on the creation of the Abstract Expressionist art movement. Gorky created the bridge between Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism.

His life began with tragedy – his mother starved to death – and ended in suicide, following a cancer operation in 1946 and a car crash in which he broke his neck. He worked in New York from 1925 and painted Cubist pictures in 1927. His earliest works were imitations of Cezanne, later of Picasso and finally Miro. In 1935 and 1939 he painted 2 large murals on the aviation theme, but both were lost. In 1940 he met Matta, who inspired surrealist ideas similar to Miro.

American Museums which include Gorky’s work

Baltimore, Chicago, Buffalo, New York, Utica and Oberlin Ohio, Tucson Arizona, London Tate Museum.

Abstract expressionism

The combination of Abstract Art and Expressionism which amounts to little more than automatic painting – i.e. allowing the subconscious to express itself ( a surrealist concept) the creation of involuntary shapes and dribbles of paint. Abstract Expressionism is another name for the same thing – is derived from an intricate mesh of colour paint which forms a surface – Monet’s last pictures which he created half blind while trying to accomplish visual equivalents. Action Painting, Tachisme