Pepe Karmel

I'm old enough to recall the declaration that painting was essentially dead, and that art, unless it was conceptual, was finished. However, the last time I noticed, it doesn't appear that artists have been daunted enough to stop throwing paint at canvas, so I was hoping this work would give me a good sense of the current state of play. Part of the issue is, according to Karmel, a misunderstanding of the problem that artists painting in the abstract mode were trying to address. It's less about trying to "abstract" reality, or directly painting emotional and spiritual states in a non-representational fashion, but in seeing what might be accomplished when one leaves behind the conventions of classic receding perspective. Once that is understood, abstract art becomes less of a periodization in itself, but simply one more artistic approach. Along with being an introduction to a fair number of artists I've never heard of, this book was very enlightening.… (altro)