VISON RECONSIDERED

Recently I have been asking myself what is the unifying principle behind my painting. This has been a long winding journey of  discovery and self awareness. This attempt to understand the why behind my work brought me to a last minute trip to Baltimore to see the Matisse & Diebenkorn show at the BMA. This AMAZING EXHIBIT showed how Matisse influenced Diebenkorn.  Deibenkorn would often take the colors from a Matisse still life and abstract it even further. Their works were placed side by side. I marveled at how moved I was by each painting

Throughout my formative painting years both of these artists inspired me greatly. Matisse made his paintings look easy by simplifying his marks, his rooms are full of flattened surfaces and of clean color. He often included a dreamy window facing out the Mediterranean Sea. These paintings were created in  Nice, France, the  sun drenched city of my childhood.  While Matisse was very abstract for his time. Diebenkorn takes his work to a new level. His paintings are grounded in reality while showing a non- literal,  abstract vision of the world. His work is large. I love his tones of enchanting blues and purples juxtaposed by a bolt of contrasting color. His propensity for working on a variety subject matter no matter what society deemed as popular, has always been appealing to me. He fluidly moved from still lifes to landscapes to figurative, to painting complete abstraction. All with a unifying mark or color.  His work moves me.

I moved a small mountain and I went against all logic to visit the Matisse and Diebenkorn show. It was well worth it! 

If you are interested check out my Artist Statement... it is always a work in progress.

Creatively Yours,

Marianne