WILL BARNET 1911-2012

Will Barnet, Confluence, 2008, 33 x 36 inches, oil on canvas (image from Alexandre Gallery website)

Will Barnet died this week at the age of 101. He was painting right to the end. I had the privilege of meeting him just last month at the opening of one of his many ex-students Garo Antreasian (who is 90). Mr. Barnet was lucid, observant, and most gracious. His dedication to painting, teaching, family, and his generosity toward life was and is an inspiration.

WILL BARNET at 100: Abstract Painting

Will Barnet, Enclosed II, 2009-10, 39 x 26 inches, oil on canvas

In the past few years we've seen a blooming of young painters exploring a sort of organic abstraction, particularly in Brooklyn, but really permeating the galleries everywhere. The recent success of Tom Nozkowski might have been one catalyst, opening the doors to his extended family and offspring. At any rate, there is no doubt still plenty of fertile ground to be cultivated creating dynamic arrangements of organic shapes with paint on canvas. The most inspiring example I know is Will Barnet, who turned 100 this year. Probably best known for his elegantly reductive and etherial figure compositions, he studied with Stuart Davis, and has devoted extended periods of his career to making abstract paintings that I think are his greatest contribution. His most recent, many of which were shown at Alexandre Gallery last spring, are his best. They are endlessly inventive works that derive their impetus from nature, and transfigure deep feeling and experience into eloquent form. The surfaces of these paintings are infused with a delicate and direct touch -- short, almost scumbled brush strokes that build the shapes slowly, deliberately, activating the whole surface, leaving bits of raw canvas at the edges of shapes. There is a wonderful tension between the authority and solidity of the compositions, and the delicacy of the color and surfaces. This work is a brilliant testimony to the vitality of an important painter, and to the continuing legacy of abstract painting.

Will Barnet, Inauguration, 2009, 32 x 32 inches, oil on canvas

Will Barnet, Conversations, 2009, 26 x 31 inches, oil on canvas

Will Barnet, Flight, 2009, 24 x 33, oil on canvas

Will Barnet, The Garden, 2009, 35 x 23 inches, oil on canvas

Will Barnet, Strolling, 2008, 30 x 35 inches, oil on canvas

Images from the Alexandre Gallery website.

AMERICAN ABSTRACT ARTISTS At OK Harris

Don Voisine, Debutante Twist, 2009, 72 x 18 inches, oil on wood

To celebrate its 75th anniversary, American Abstract Artists, the venerable artists' organization, is presenting a marvelous exhibition at OK Harris through July 15, 2011. This sprawling but beautifully coherent show features the work of 77 member artists, spanning several generations and comprising a broad range of approaches to abstraction. The roster includes a long list of well known painters including Dorothea Rockburne, Thornton Willis, Merrill Wagner, Will Barnet, and many more -- all showing significant works. There is also a nice group of excellent work by lesser known artists. One thing that distinguishes this exhibition from some previous AAA shows is the scale of the work, made possible by the size of the rambling galleries of OK Harris. Rather than diminutive samples shown salon style, we are treated to full scale paintings, shown with enough space around them to set off each piece individually. It is a museum worthy presentation that this work truly deserves. Moving around the galleries, spending time with each work, one is inevitably taken by the variety and depth of the ongoing investigations. One can sense the 75 year tradition, a seasoning and a blooming -- a way of seeing, thinking, living that in many ways is no less radical now than in 1936.

left: Susan Bonfils, Color Planes 1-A, 2010, 23 x 18.75 x 10 inches, aluminum & acrylic

right: Mark Dagley, Core Belief, 2008, 76 x 72 inches, acrylic on unprimed canvas

Joan Waltemath, Owen (East 1 1,2,3,5,8...), 2008-10, 39.25 x 16.25 inches, oil, zinc, graphite, pewter & florescent pigment on honeycomb aluminum panel

Richard Timperio, Peach Foam-Red Mark, 1995, 68 x 56 inches, acrylic & mixed media on canvas

left: David Row, String Theory, 2008, 50 x 66 inches, oil on canvas

center: Mara Held, Ostinato, 2007, 32 x 48 inches, egg tempera on linen/board

right: Judith Murray, Transport, 2008-9, 50 x 54 inches, oil on linen

Will Barnet, GO-GO II, 2003, 31 3/8 x 19 1/2 inches, oil on canvas