Al Loving

"Swirls & More" Multi-Layers of Colors, Collage, African-American

1998

“Untitled #34” was created by Sam Gilliam, one of the great innovators in postwar American painting. It is dated and signed on the lower front. The thick handmade paper is rich with folds and texture and the colors lively. In addition to Acrylic paint on the surface there appears to be imbedded color in the handmade paper which has additional embossed accents. Unframed the piece measures 16 x 14. Provenance of Yaw Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan is on the verso along with the note that the Paper Surfaces in contact with this artwork are acid free. In the mid-1960s he emerged from the Washington D.C. scene with works that elaborated upon and disrupted the ethos of Color School painting. A series of formal breakthroughs would soon result in his canonical Drape paintings, which expanded upon the tenets of Abstract Expressionism in entirely new ways. One profound manner was the sculpture aspect of the painting giving it a free flowing expression of pure color. In the latter half of the 1950s, Washington D.C. saw a flourishing of abstract art that emphasized the form-making capabilities of pure color. Known as The Washington Color School, the loosely affiliated group of abstract painters knew each other through various teaching experiences. The moniker has an uncertain origin but likely originated with the title of a 1965 exhibition at the Washington Gallery of Modern Art, "Washington Color Painters," curated by Gerald Nordland. The show exhibited the works of Kenneth Noland, Paul Reed, Morris Louis, Howard Mehring, Thomas Downing, and Gene Davis. Additionally, Leon Berkowitz...

SALE ONE WEEK ONLY This abstract acrylic work by Max Günther is an exquisite example of his abstract cityscape work. A preferred subject of Günther's, his work took cityscape shapes...

SALE ONE WEEK ONLY "Untitled" by Nicholas Bodde depicts vibrant layers of color on narrow aluminum strips. These pieces are interchangeable and can be hung in various ways. Each is signed on the verso and was created in 2013. All three are sold as a set. Each aluminum panel measures 39 " h x 2.5" w. Bodde was born in New York he lives and works in Germany. He considers himself a German painter, who uses lacquered aluminum to create works that are beautiful in their simplicity and in their joyful exploration of color. The artist drives upon the tradition of European constructivism as well as Colour Field Painting, noting influences by Mark Rothko and Barnett Newmann. Bodde claims that his paintings “reveal themselves differently from close up and from a distance. When viewed from a distance they clearly appear related to constructivist geometric tendencies. But from close proximity, one notices that my main objective is painting and not construction.” The artist has reduced his subject to parallel vertical or horizontal lines and fields that race across the hard surface in a controlled riot – as if the viewer were looking out of a fast moving car while driving by fields of colorful flowers. Bodde constantly questions the colors, focusing on creating a construction through using different colors. He sees his creations as a mode of communication with the world. He paints on aluminum plates by successive coats of painting that he applies with different utensils to finally obtain a result that imprints itself into the eye’s retina. The game of colorful stripes, more or less large, sometimes with the feeling of the brush, sometimes flat, reflects the light differently on each lap. The brightness of his palette, a willful choice, accentuates the vitality that emanates from this painting. His works hesitate between the vibrating and nearly irritating colors and the calm of a monastic construction.   Bodde received his formal education from the University of Arts in Bremen (1989) and has been exhibited in numerous solo and group shows across the world, including venues such as the Yeh Gallery in Seoul, Planet Art...

"Structure Relief 254" is an abstract structural relief painted in earth tones. Throughout his life Barr was interested in engineering, structure, mathematics and nature. Although i...

Monica DeSalvo’s “Dressed Up Properties” is a 22 x 30 inch triptych composed of three abstract acrylic monoprints with leaf forms. Red, yellow, royal blue, magenta, pink, sky blue, and hints of green and orange run from bright and crisp to muted and distressed. Handwritten math equations are exposed through the imagery on the left and right panels printed on vintage ruled...

Monica DeSalvo’s “Space Junk” is a 22 x 30 inch surreal collage on a digital enlargement of an abstract acrylic monotype with pink, tan, orange, peach, sage, and white. Soft textures and depth are created by the uneven distribution of color and layering a day’s worth of final pulls with a Gelli plate, capturing faint impressions of items such as a feather. Collage elements include monotype fragments with botanical forms and vintage textbook...

Monica DeSalvo’s “The End of Sums" is a mixed-media collage on paper, featuring abstract acrylic monotypes in green, purple, magenta, and yellow. The triptych-like composition has a ...

Monica DeSalvo’s “Cochlear Cornucopia” is a 15 x 22 inch surreal collage on an abstract acrylic drip painting with dark purple, green, pink, blue, and white. Crisp, elongated paint d...