More Suitcase Paintings

Beth Sale, in the Athens Flagpole, gives a nice summary of the Suitcase Paintings: Small Scale Work by Abstract Expressionists exhibition and our corresponding permanent collection display. Full text of the Flagpole's "Art Notes" [here]. Museum relevant section follows:

Living is Easy: “Suitcase Paintings: Small Scale Work by Abstract Expressionists,” on view at the Georgia Museum of Art (GMOA), has the perfect concept for summer travel. Thomas McCormick of Chicago titled the exhibit after a story told by New York art dealer Gertrude Stein about collector Larry Aldrich’s habit of traveling with paintings he could fit into his suitcase. Abstract Expressionists are known for creating large-scale works (such as Jackson Pollack’s canvases of dripped paint), but as a quote by Robert Motherwell, included in the exhibition’s text, mentions, “It’s possible to paint a monumental picture that’s only 10 inches wide, if one has a sense of scale, which is very different from a sense of size.” This exhibit highlights works which contain the energy and vibrancy of Abstract Expressionism in a small scale. The exhibit is populated by thick paint; broad, generous brushstrokes, such as in Alfonso Ossorio’s painting; and the bold shapes of Robert Richenburg (to whom the exhibit is dedicated), who died while the exhibit was being assembled in October of 2006. Collages in muted colors by Ronald Ahlstrom, Fred Berman and Robert Nickle exude a heavy, aged authority, while Frank Lodbell and Robert Natkin’s light and airy paintings have a more summery palette. Well-known artists of the Abstract Expressionists are also included in the exhibit: Elaine de Kooning, Perle Fine, Phillip Guston, Franz Kline, Conrad Marca-Relli, Joan Mitchell, Robert Motherwell and Jack Tworkov.

One viewer suggested that a blue painting by William Baziotes resembled a woman playing piano until she read the title “Moon Dream.” Herman Cherry’s “No Title (Black Slash)” vaguely resembles a car going downhill, with a black line of asphalt on a red hill with an olive-green car and yellow sky. See what you can find. The exhibit will be on view through July 22, after which it will travel to other museum venues. A series of documentary films complements the exhibit on Wednesday nights during the month of June. “Stroke of Genius: De Kooning on de Kooning” begins the series on June 6. Check Movie Dope for more information.

Sense of Permanence: Paintings from the Permanent Collection currently on display include large-scale works by Howard Thomas and Carl Holty, who use squares and rectangles to build their compositions. Lamar Dodd and Jack Kehoe, both essential UGA instructors, have work in the exhibit. Joan Mitchell’s “Close” steals the show with an amazing amount of light pouring both on the painting and coming from it. Her large rectangles of light orange ochre drip down the surface like a cat’s tail on a sunny windowsill. If you missed the recent exhibit of Mariska Karasz’s work, you can get a taste of it now; one of her pieces is included in this exhibit.

Images: Two views of the Dodd Gallery, Georgia Museum of Art, showing the Kehoe, Mitchell, and Dodd mentioned in the "Art Notes" text.