Milian and Ohashi, from Cuba to Japan

Once Abstract Expressionism caught the imagination of artists, it became a truly international movement making the rounds from New York to Europe, Asia, California, and Latin America.

Two seemingly different pieces in the show illustrate this phenomena. Side by side hang a pair of small works, one by Raul Milian, the other by Yutaka Ohashi; interestingly, both artists are from island nations rich in cultural and artistic history-Cuba and Japan. The Milian watercolor from 1954 is a classic example of abstraction with a uniquely Cuban sensibility. Dark, amorphous watercolor washes create a smokey depth like peering into ocean caves or pathways through the jungle at night. We can see the influence of the Cuban surrealist Wilfredo Lam by the inscrutability of the dark forms. This piece was exhibited in the Third San Paolo Biennial of 1955. In similar watercolor tones with added elements of collage is the piece by Yutaka Ohashi. The Japanese love for creating art with paper is evident. Torn and colored pieces of Mulberry paper are masterfully laid over a larger water colored sheet of brown washes. They appear as an almost topographical map of an imaginary island nation. This piece was originally exhibited at the Sweetow Gallery in Boston in the 1950's. Side by side they remind us of how fully Abstract Expressionism was embraced in disparate island nations.

Exhibition Extended at Mark McDonald

The AbExEastWest Exhibition will be extended through mid-November. Don't miss this large and powerul selection of paintings, works on paper and ceramics.

Motherwell, Diebenkorn and Voulkos

A beautiful grouping of prints in this show is the three pieces toward the end of the gallery near the window: Robert Motherwell’s “Dance lll”, Richard Diebenkorn’s “Mask” and Peter Voulkos’ “Untitled” (Stack).  As they hang side by side an interesting dialogue develops between the free gesture of Motherwell’s “Dance lll” and the more studied stiffer lines in the Diebenkorn “Mask” .  Although they share a similar printing technique, the plates were created in radically different ways.

The lines for “Mask” were laid out on the prepared copper plate with masking tape, which Diebenkorn used as his drawing instrument.  After the composition was finished, the tape was abruptly ripped off the plate, pulling the ground with it and exposing the broad lines of shiny copper that were then immersed in acid and “burnt” onto the plate. Tiny, fine lines were then scratched onto the plate(drypoint) to further lead the eye around the composition and to provide a contrast to the bolder masked lines.  The plate is then inked, wiped and printed.

In contrast, Motherwell used a spit-bite technique that utilizes a brush to directly form the lines, in this case a quick gesture, onto the copperplate.  The hold your breath immediacy of this action in a print is a hallmark of Motherwell’s graphic output.

Sitting quietly between the two is the Voulkos monprint that resembles one of his monumental clay stacks.  Its smaller scale and touch of color forms a terrific bridge between the two larger graphics.

In each piece you see clear evidence of the hand of the artist at work, in the Voulkos you even see his fingerprints.

More About Ab/Ex East West

Don't miss our reception: 

Saturday, July 30th, from 6:00 - 8:00pm 

at Mark McDonald, 555 Warren Street, 2nd Floor, Hudson, NY
(518) 965-4064

The term “AbEx” has commonly been employed to describe a movement seemingly frozen in time.  The “big boys” of this avant garde - Jackson Pollack, Willem DeKooning, Barnett Newman,  Franz Kline were drinking hard at the Cedar Tavern in  New York City or throwing ideas and paint around in their Lower East Side studio lofts or camping on the sofas of their various therapists who themselves were trying to coin an understanding of what made these people, this moment in history, so incredibly unique.  With the luxury of hindsight, we can see how desperately committed all of the players were in ferreting out a path or a definition of this extraordinary and totally new way of applying paint to canvas, expressing the ideas that were born out of a century addicted to war and atrocity.  It is impossible to understand this work simply as a movement that grew out of Surrealism and was nurtured by the plethora of late 19^th  and early 20^th century isms…Impressionism, Post –Impressionism, Cubism, Orphism, etc….Abstract Expressionism, as exhibited in this show, has continued to evolve and flourish to this day thanks to a number of influences.

With these thoughts in mind we can celebrate the accomplishments of the pieces in this show.

The Conrad Marca-Relli collage of canvas, paper and paint on board is a wonderful example of organic shapes and a variety of textures organized inside a narrow palette.  Punctured canvas puzzle parts are “sewn” together like a dressmaker’s pattern in a beautiful light salmon field.  Also in this vein, but with an explosion of color, is the Robert Goodnough oil on canvas.  I’ve rarely seen such an enormous painting done successfully on such an intimate scale.   The affinity these two pieces share, one from the 1950’s one from the 1970’s, one with a subdued palette, the other with dozens of colors, tones and hues is quite memorable. (I love how each puzzle piece holds the viewers attention)  The large Kazuya Sakai in this show is a fascinating bridge between the Goodnough aesthetic of the 50’s and the Marca-Relli studied composition of the 70’s.  Sakai was born in Argentina, raised in Japan and painted in New York City in the 1960’s.  This canvas from 1964 has all the bells and whistles of Absrtract Expressionism-texture, form, depth and a solid composition. The canvas was purchased from the original owner in 1988 and has never been exhibited in public…. wonderful to see three decades of East Coast painting sharing the same space.

The incredibly bold attack with brush and color that James Suzuki executed on the three oils on paper in this show are in stark contrast to the large, 60” x 72”, oil on canvas from the same period.  The frenzy with which the paint is lashed onto the works on paper is the perfect storm before the calm sea of color forms intricately connected with graphite lines on the complex canvas; these works by the same hand couldn’t be more different.  The same observation could be made of the two canvases in this show by Noriko Yamamoto.  The predominantly black and white action painting  “Untitled 60-4” continues the West Coast assault  with gesture. On the other hand, “Tsukumi” from the same year, is a quiet cerebral meditation.

AbExEastWest at Mark McDonald offers a unique opportunity to see a large variety of works in different mediums from different schools of the AbEx movement in one room.  The dialogue that springs up amongst works in so many different sizes is a real highlight of seeing an exhibition in person; particularly so when drawn from several privates collections.  We hope you enjoy viewing this show as much as we have enjoyed pulling it together.

Kico Govantes

For more on this show, follow this blow ( www.abexeastwest.com )

Opening Reception

Don't miss the opening reception of this show -- !

Saturday, July 30th, from 6:00 - 8:00pm 

at Mark McDonald

555 Warren Street, 2nd Floor

(518) 965-4064

Coming soon in Hudson, NY

This is the blog for Ab Ex East West, a pop-up gallery opening the last weekend in July on the second floor of Mark McDonald in Hudson, New York.

Curated by Kico Govantes, this show will feature paintings and works on paper from the New York and San Francisco Schools. In addition, there will be a selection of outstanding pieces by legendary ceramicists Beatrice Wood, Otto and Viveka Heino and Otto and Gertrude Natzler.

For those that love the direct expression of line, color, form and function this is a must-see event on your summer itinerary.

Artists in Ab Ex East West:


Graphics on paper
   Richard Diebenkorn
   Robert Motherwell
   Francesco Clemente
   Peter Voulkos
   Howard Hodgekins
   Pat Steir
   Arthur Deshaies


Paintings on canvas and paper
   Conrad Marca-Relli
   James Suzuki
   Carl Liner
   Kazuya Sakai
   Kico Govantes
   John Saccaro
   Emerson Woelffer
   Edward Corbett
   Roy DeForest
   Noriko Yamamoto
   Deborah Remington
   Robert Goodnough
   James Havard
   Carl Benjamin
   Frank Lobdell

Ceramics and related drawings
   Beatrice Wood
   Otto and Gertrude Natzler
   Otto and Viveka Heino
   Liza McVey
   Paul Soldner

Sculpture
   Mark DiSuvero
   Beatrice Wood