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SPECTRUM: Contemporary Color Abstraction
Carole Bieber and Marc Ham Gallery
March 26 through August 1, 2010
An exhibition originated by Carina Evangelista
Beginning in the 1970s,many critics and artists
speculated that painting was dead and that “decorative painting,” which depended strongly on color relationships and abstract pattern, was absolutely gone for good. The term decorative is still suspect in many art circles, but, as SPECTRUM demonstrates, color abstraction is
clearly here to stay. In fact, this is the second exhibition on the topic installed by the DCCA in recent years. The first, Scratching the Surface: Abstraction Now (2005), concentrated on painting while the DCCA’s current exhibition brings
together both painting and sculpture. Not only is color abstraction alive, but it plays a vital role in today’s art practice. Younger artists have found innovative ways of incorporating color and
abstraction into their artistic vocabulary, while more established artists have found a renewed interest in color exploration in their recent work. The range of
approaches to color abstraction in this exhibition represents the vast array of approaches to the theme, from softsculpture to cast forms, from paintings on Plexiglas to painted and shaped
plywood. Stylistic presentations span a continuum from organic to geometric abstraction, and from abstraction based on natural forms to the purely
non-objective. Some of the artists in SPECTRUM present highly elegant images or constructions while others utilize everyday materials, attaching a
sense of the absurd or the whimsical. Yet, in all cases, color and abstract form are at the heart of the work. Clearly, neither painting nor formal abstraction has died. In fact, it is not even on life-support, but, rather, contributes a healthy, robust voice to the art of the twenty-first century.
J. Susan Isaacs, PhD
Curator of Special Projects
For a full list of SPECTRUM exhibiting artists click here.
DCCA exhibitions and programs are made possible, in part, through individual contributions; members support; major grants from AstraZeneca, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts; and by Amtrak—Official Transportation Provider for the DCCA.
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