Influences - Agnes Martin

Inspiration is a welcome dose of delivered insight. Thankfully, I have been gifted with the motivation to get back to work in the studio after reading the 2012  Phaidon publication of 'Ages Martin, Paintings, Writings & Remembrances' by Arne Glimcher. 

Agnes Martin (1912-2004) was a Canadian born American Abstract Painter. Although often thought of as a minimalist, she considered herself an abstract expressionist. 

Her subtle yet evocative paintings are an attempt to reveal an interest in Eastern philosophy and reflect her concern with setting aside the personal identification with ego and intellectual ideas. Embracing a somewhat hermetic lifestyle, Martin dedicated her time looking inward to the workings of the mind. 

       Photo Credit Charles R. Rushton

We are all called to look within at some stage in our lives, whether thrust upon us via personal tragedy or by means of devotion and joy. I read somewhere in my youthful quest for spiritual enlightenment,  that if you 'Don't go within, you go without'. This little saying bubbles up for me often when I find myself getting too caught up in the world of external matters that charge my thoughts with unnecessary disturbance. 

Martin's commitment to her practice is heroic in my eyes given the ascetic-like conditions she worked in. I'm in no rush to live a solitary life in a cave, but I am thankful for my quiet studio space to reflect on my own practice.

Untitled 22.9cm x 22.9cm 1978

“The best things in life happen to you when you’re alone.”

— Agnes Martin

Sydney Moderns - Art For A New World 6th July - 7th October 2013

Yesterday was an artist date scheduled in the diary to go visit the Art Gallery of NSW to see the curated exhibition titled 'Sydney Moderns'. I travelled by train to the city thinking how un-modern and antiquated Cityrail's 'rattlers' are. It got me to the city though (and a big thank you to Gordon for lending me his noise-cancelling headphones). 

The exhibition has been curated into various themes such as; 'Colour & Light', Colour & Music' & 'Still Life' etc. Having the luxury of several hours and a day to myself, I took my time in the space; exiting & reentering the show whenever a rambunctious throng of school children bustled through with their clipboards & worrisome teacher. 

There is a lot of artwork to digest in this show, but none which cannot be managed in a single bite. The colourful works of Roland Wakelin & Roy de Maistre are excellent examples of the modern aesthetic between the wars, capturing their interest in the relationship between 'colour & music' and 'colour & light'. Grace Cossington Smith's industrial depictions of the Harbour Bridge mid construction emphasised the rhythms of the modern age; a city in change, surging toward one of the most urbanised nations of the time.

Painting was not all about the changing face of a city however, artists such as Margaret Preston devoted many a canvas to the genre of Still Life. On the matter, she says- 

“Why there are so many tables of still life in modern paintings is because they are really laboratory tables on which aesthetic problems can be isolated.”

— AGNSW Exhibition pamphlet

Procrastination...Self Doubt....Anxiety

For over a week now, I have been pushing up against resistance about working in the studio. Thankfully, having been through this process numerous times, I am aware that it will pass in all good time. The cyclical nature of self talk which holds you in high regard one moment then berates you the next for being a talentless hack has been a steady dialogue reverberating inside my head. It is reassuring to read other artists accounts of what form their resistance can take. 

Numerous times I have walked into the studio armed with unrealistic expectations of what masterpiece will be boxed up and ready to frame by the end of the day. Unfortunately, it does not work that way. At present I feel like I have come to a four-way crossroad, unable to make a decision from which way am I to proceed. The anxiety this  produces may ruin a days work and you settle for a book in the sun instead or another episode of HBO's 'Deadwood'. I know the only way to overcome the block is to work; regardless of how it feels or what the inner critic says. Now if only I could stop procrastinating and spending time on my blog instead of going to work.

I think I need more coffee! 

I am the ill ease you feel when you walk into a crowded room. I am the hot and cold flushes that confuse you when you're already confused enough. I am the one that raises the whip to your already racing heart. I am the tightening of your chest.

Pardon My Dust

Within this little video I learned about non-attachment. Unfortunately, I cannot erase my artwork. But I can stomp on it & throw it in the trash!