Barnett Newman inspired me to investigate Modern Painters and started this months topic. I read an article about the Voice of Fire in the National Gallery of Canada and I must admit I was on the side of the "what the heck?" camp.
I realize the size is a major component in Mr Newman's work but I didn't want to absorb a large color field canvas into my home so I used a tiny canvas that I had picked up at Blick when it was on sale.
I did a horizontal block of blue grey with a black edge and was quite surprised to see he had painted almost the exact same thing. I repainted several versions but none appealed to me. I don't know why, but I really struggled with this project and the end result resembles a book. Oh well.
Several years ago I was in a drawing class and mentioned seeing a red lacquered board propped up against the wall at the MIA. I said it looked like a shelf from Ikea waiting to be hung. The instructor piped in and said it was a pure expression of color. I said it was a great sales job. He said it was dynamic. I said it was the emperors new clothes for a group of pretentious intellectuals. The conversation must have have made an impact since when I run into people who were there that night they still talk about it.
My feeling is art evokes a response and makes you look at things in new ways. I guess most Modern Art does that but I'm still not convinced by some things that I find in museums. I can't dispute that people are still passionately discussing his pieces so I would consider the work successful.
