in this issue special feature on abstract Art. It’s almost an impossible task to determine how abstract painting first began. It’s a question that confronts most art academics and historians with each will telling a different story. This special feature sets out to provide a base ground for the reader and whilst it is difficult to outline all of the twists and turns of abstract painting in detail, it is hoped the feature will help the reader get to grips with the current painters leaning to what could be called “figurative abstract.”

It’s almost an impossible task to determine how recognise it as such. Even an abstracted abstract painting first began. A tree (invented by the artist) is still a tree. to the viewer of it. So, what is abstract? And what is not abstract art is plainly subjective.a different story. TUBES issue #4 provides some answers.

3 T U B E Spainters Contents Pages 2 and 4: Introduction and Editors page Pages 5 to 20: Alpha. 20th Century: From Cubism to Futurism to Dada. Artists discussed: Braque, Picasso, Matisse, Delaunay, Mondrian, Derain, Gris, Metzinger, Balla, Malevich, Kandinsky and Marcel Duschamp. Pages 21 to 30: Omega. 20th Century: American Abstract Expressionism to Figurative Abstract Expressionism Artists discussed: Mark Tobey, Mark Rothko, William de Kooning , Clifford Still, Nicolas de Stael, Arshile Gorky, Barnet Newman, Yves Kline, Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell and Robert Rauschenberg. Pages 31 to 56 : Alpha. 21st Century (a new beginning?)John Walker, Kayla Mohammadi, Lisa Kreuziger, Denis Taylor, (Tubes Editor) Steven Heaton, David Stanley, Jean Mirre, Riccardo Vitiello, Colin Taylor, Mike Weeden, Hans Reefman and Shahin de Heart “...Reality is not visible, it’s only an imaginable possibility. That’s why Art is possible and why it is important for humanity to create Art. We imagine the World...it’s not real at all..” painters Tubes magazine designed & produced by Studio 5 Sweden. registered office: Ekerodsvagen 253, 266 95 Munka Ljungby. +46431441050 email:[email protected] - www.painterstubes.com ptmag- #4 - 2017- 07-30

4 Editors page To gain some sort of road map and to try to help quantify contemporary abstract painting today, I felt it was a good idea to go back to the beginning when Abstract Art became fixed into the psyche of the modern world, as being a different sort of art from the other forms of painting. The inter-relationship of twentieth century poets, art critical thinkers, academics and practising artists, have all contributed to what we now consider as Abstract painting. Without first re-reading with concentrated study of all these considerations then a total understanding of abstract art and it’s development is probably not possible The objective of this feature is to give the reader a base- line for the ‘visual reasoning’ behind abstract painting creation as an art form. And to provide a guide of how it came about and then developed by painters. This twentieth century historical ‘re-run’ is as important as the understanding we now hold of the ‘Renaissance’ movement in Europe, one which was to prove to be so important for the future development of all modern Art. As an artist of some longevity, it is quite natural for me to have read volumes about Art over the last 30 years or so, as no doubt many fellow artists have also done. It is only when refreshing my own knowledge and discovering even more information, perhaps forgotten or missed, that I realised the enormity of the task that lay before me. A certain amount of necessary ‘omissions’ had to be considered to reduce the feature to a readable length. Some of these ‘edits’ consisted of whole movements and/or groups of artists who pursued a varied form of abstract painting like the more ‘known’ artists of the twentieth century. i.e. the Cobra Group, German Expressionists, Gestural abstraction, Kinetic art, Minimalism etc have been edited out to some degree. However, it is probable that these ‘types’ of abstraction will be covered by the magazine at a later date. It is also evident that many equally important artists have not been highlighted, again this was a conscious decision, necessary to ensure the reduction of too many examples which could have affected the flow. The feature is written in three parts, Alpha (beginning) Omega (ending) and Alpha 21c (new beginning) – The selected art for part three that is shown, only as examples and cannot possibly represent ‘everything’ that is currently out there on the contemporary art scene. My intention here was to gather images from artists that present a fair view of the outstanding work now being produced by dedicated abstract painters of all dimensions. I was delighted to have discovered or reconnected with artists from, Germany, Italy, France, Holland, the USA and the UK. And to the Artists who have allowed the magazine to show examples of their work I give you my personal thanks. I hope you find this special feature insightful, enlightening and enjoyable. Denis Taylor, Artist & Editor, painters Tubes

5image:Lascaux animal painting - credit: Prof Saxx - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,https:/ commons.wikimedia.org “in the beginning there was Art, it wasn’t called art, but it was none the less.” part one – alpha The act of making a mark to communicate something to another human seems to have been etched into the very DNA of our species. For example, helping establish co-operative successful working methods, in the gathering, hunting or trapping of other animals for food, which no doubt helped the survival and dominance of our species. Imagery, it seems, became the de-facto communication medium before language or the written word evolved in sophistication. This is an assumption of course, because we cannot be sure that imagery was the all important difference that elevated the human species to dominate this planet. To date no one has proved otherwise and what positive evidence there was is scratched on the walls by our early ancestors. Whatever is the truth of what came first, language or images, imagery was and still is, the quickest form of communication and the most effective, as far as conveying deeper meanings concerning the complex psychological conditions of a human being. Adopting images to convey spiritual understanding and encourage religious fervour was the strategy embraced by the leaders of organised society, from the ancient civilisations through to today. The legacy of humanities Art is felt world wide and held in high esteem. Today much of this art is almost worshipped and the makers of it regarded as ‘divine’ having been ‘touched by the hand of God.’ Michelangelo being a prime example of this idolisation. In the past centuries there was a general acceptance that Art was the cultural reflection of all humanities activities, its belief systems, its questioning of social morality and human interactions. It is not surprising that Artists would adapt, change or develop their art to public opinion and be employed by almost every organised nation to instil on the mass population their own specific dogma’s. It was not unreasonable for the artists, of that time, to believe that was to be their job.

6 Above: Paul Durand-Ruel, Art agent come gallerist who was largely responsible for the impressionists painters succes. Pictured in his gallery c.1910. ©Domac/Durand-Ruel & Cie/Courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art. In the past Art was relied upon as the path finder for new ways of conveying philosophical ‘thinking’ about life, death, the after life and existence itself. In the 21st century, that is not really the case, as other mediums have superseded static visual art. Film, videos, television and to some extent, even social media, now fulfils that roll. By the beginning of the twentieth century the Western world had progressed, technologically, to a point where the future seemed as if all the problems of the previous centuries would be solved. Machines had mobilised society with efficient transportation systems. Power (electric and gas) was available at the switch of a button, clean water was piped directly to all citizens homes, new sewage systems cleaned up the environment of the City, improved infrastructures led to vast company profits and the population followed behind it, slower perhaps, but nonetheless incrementally better off. More importantly, the Western nation states acquired a cultural superiority complex, one that they believed provided high global status, one that was the justification for empire building. Art and artists reflected this complex society with advances in image making and celebrated it by producing work that looked and felt ‘modern’ as the industrial revolution sped towards its total dominance of the natural world and the incredible social change well before the famous 1900 Paris World fare. By the turn of the century, in Paris, at the World Trade Fair (btw, Paris was already the art capital of the world) the impressionists were ‘the stars of the show.’ They were very well established in the fashionable art galleries of the French capital city. By 1900’s – The camera became a must have accessory of the people, with many artists predicting the end of the need for painting. Paul Gauguin was creating his last masterpieces in Haiti, Vincent van Gogh had been dead ten years. Degas eyesight was in decline and Rodin was proving his status as the ‘genius’ of the new modern sculpture. And Cezanne? He was just beginning to make his presence felt on the art market as a great modern painter. The art world had witnessed the birth of post impressionism. And christened them ‘Fauves’ (wild beasts). The groups most intellectual member, Maurice Denis, made a challenging statement, one that is still relevent to todays painters...

7 Portrait of a young Man. 36 inches x 29 inches - 918mm x 736mm. by André Derain Soloman R. Guggenheim Museum. NYC ©2017 ARS- Artists Rights Society New York/ADAGP, Paris.“...remember that a picture – before being a battle horse, a nude woman or someanecdote – is essentially a flat surface covered with colours arranged ina certain order.” (Maurice Denis, essay published in 1890)It appears that many Artists, before 1900, were the cutting edge of a brave new century to come andtherefore prepared the way for artists to go forward to open the minds of the population of Europe.“...when the means had become so refined, so weakened, that their power ofexpression had gone, we had to return to the essential principles on which humanlanguage was formed.” (Matisse talking about ‘Fauvism’ circa 1936)The phrase ‘Avant Garde’ could have been applied to any one of several artists at this early stage ofmodernism, and what we now regard as early examples of contemporary painting.Today, however, we regard Cubism as the real beginning of what typifies twentieth century Modernism(Abstraction in painting). For example, certain names spring to mind the minute the word Cubismis used, namely Cubism’s innovators, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, even though neitherof them ever referred to themselves as Cubists, nor took part in any of the Cubists exhibitions(before or after 1911). It is generally believed that African masks were the stimulus for the creationof Cubism. Although the ‘primitive’ aspect of art was already being investigated energetically by thepost impressionists (the Fauves) well before 1905. Which may account for the interest of Matisse andPicasso in these simplified forms. It is possible that both artists saw the examples at the studio of thepainter André Derain, who himself may have acquired them from André Vlaminck (with reference tothe Museum of Ethnography and Anthropological Gallery, now known as the Musee de l’Homme inParis, which Vlaminck was an avid visitor). The absolute truth of where and who first became excitedand aware of the African masks, as a new way to paint human forms is still clouded.However what is known is that these chance encounters opened a whole new way of ‘seeing’ and wasto represent a leap in the development of painting in the Western world, one which had never beenseen before, or arguably since.

8 “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.” Oil on canvas (96 inches x 92 inches. -2440mm x 2340mm).

9 above: Matisse. “the joy of life” Oil on In 1905, Henri Matisse painted “Madame Matisse - canvas. 68.5 inches x 93.75 inches - the green line’- which signalled a whole new painting 1740mm x 2381mm process for him, as far as ‘colour’ and the ‘look’ he wanted of an ‘immediacy’ of paint application.above: ‘Madamme Matisee’ -the green line. Oil on In truth, the work was slow and methodical withcanvas. 16 inches x 12-75 inches- many corrections to imitate the ‘look’ he wanted.406mm x 324mm However, a whole new challenge presented itself to both Matisse and Picasso and it came in the form of Cezanne’s large figurative painting (Large Bathers 83 inches x 98 inches. 2100mm x 2510mm), which had become well known and much admired in Paris. Matisse responded with a successful, albeit controversial work “the Joy of Life” and Picasso began “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.” Picasso’s effort is now seen as ‘the’ all important modern art canvas, although at the time, he did not feel it was in any way close to what he wanted. His ambition to produce a monumental canvas, in response to Cezanne’s bathers, seemed to have failed miserably. He altered and tried different approaches (including the african mask imagery on one or two of the female figures) then he simply gave up on it. He rolled up the painting and abandoned the work to a corner of his studio (c.1907). It is possible that Picasso’ rejection of the work was in reaction to his fellow artist friends, who on viewing the work, thought it ‘ghastly.’ His next large painting ‘Nude in a Forest’- ‘the Dryed’ 1908, however gave him the chance to explore primitive imagery more simply and succinctly with the basis of simplified forms of African sculpture, having tentatively experimented with them in less detail with Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.

10 Picasso. ‘Nude in a Forest’ -the Dryed- 1908. Oil on canvas. 73 inches x 42.5 inches. 1854mm x 1080mm The ‘Dryed’ painting may have reinforced the thought that ‘planes’ using light and dark alternatives in undulating spaces, proved that not all parts of the same painting need be in total sympathy with each other. This conclusion was to launch himself and Braque on a voyage of discovery that was to change the way painters considered creating two dimensional art. George Braque worked in the same building as Picasso at this time, and their collaboration is today legendary. “It was like we were two mountaineers roped together..” (George Braque) The two artists, although totally different in personality, worked on the same method of painting between 1909 and 1911, often choosing the same subjects to assist each other and develop the fledgling mode of painting which came to be known as Cubism. The early form was given the grand title of Analytical Cubism and the paintings actual titles were provided by an Art dealer rather than the artists themselves, as way to identify them. It is believed that Cubism sprang from the art of Cezanne. And although directional brush strokes could be comparable, the essence behind the work of Cezanne and Cubism could not be more different. Cezanne spent time studying his subject matter to enable it to fit his canvas (in almost classical ways). He wanted the finished work to be of a solid value with space that had a physical existence. Picasso and Braque chose subjects they knew (still life, guitars or people etc) and painted them without need of absolute reference because they knew their subjects so well and painted them in a more playful way with far less passion than Cezanne is said to have done. The important note to make here is the difference between [figurative] art and reality. When Picasso painted “Man smoking a pipe” in a cubist manner a line was crossed. The painting today is understood perfectly, as a man smoking a pipe, but when it was first seen it must have confused and bewildered the onlooker. Pieces of identifiable reality are not that easy to spot, the pipe, the mans head, bits of lettering from a newspaper become clear only after a getting acquainted time period, but even these parts of reality must have increased the confusion rather than helped the viewer to understand what it was they were actually looking at. Was it a work of art, was it a portrait of man? Or was it sheer nonsensical rubbish?

11“Man Smoking a Pipe.” 1911. Oil on canvas. Oval. 36 inches x 28.25 inches. 914mm x 717mm. Fort Worth, Texas. ©Kimbell Art Foundation.

12 George Braque - Still Life. ©ADAGP Paris and DAC London 2017. We have come to accept, as true, that as far as Picasso and Braque were concerned, the only thought that they had was:- “seeking a new expression” (quote from Picasso, 1932). We can assume that in 1908 with the art legacy of Impressionism, and before that, the art of Courbet and Manet, who had set the path for Art (painting) to interpret the real world quite directly and straight forward, but with a stylistic fervour. Cezanne (and perhaps Seurat) perfected a controlling mechanism to capture ‘absolute reality’ through methodology and precision. Other artists, prior to 1900, turned to Symbolism as a way to paint fantasy and dreamlike scenarios, whilst maintaining an image that the viewer could easily recognise and identify with. Cubism did not follow any of those preset rules or methods. “Cubism was a completely new idiom and a totally original new form of expression.” Braque and Picasso however did not sit on the initial canvases as a finality. They swiftly moved forward to what we now call ‘Synthetic Cubism’ – This involved less brush work and more collagé. In itself not a new innovation, painters had always placed other bits on their work to gain an idea of how ‘space’ would react to the composition (paper for example). Braque and Picasso simply left the ‘paper’ on the canvas as part of a work. They drew over the glued items with charcoal or stuck bits of texture material to the canvas, then declared them ‘finished’. Again this shocked and inspired artists like a double ‘new-art’ whammy and propelled them into joining the party. Juan Gris (1887- 1927- real name: José Victorian Gonzales) was one of a number of artists that grabbed the cubists animalistic tail and ran with it. Robert Delauney (1881-1941) and Fernand Léger (1881-1955) were two more artists inspired by Cubism and used it’s two different forms (analytical and synthetic) in very unique ways. Even Matisse played with a canvas or two with a cubistic nature to them, albeit a few years later. (“Bathers by a River-1916-1917).

13 Juan Gris - “Portrait of Picasso”Paul Klee (1879-1940), David Bomberg (1890-1957) and manyothers far too numerous to mention, took their lead from Cubism todevelop and expand their own work. An outstanding convert wasPiet Mondrian(1872- 1944), who prior to staying in Paris around thistime, had been painting the flat landscapes of his home (Holland) invarious techniques (impressionism and post-impressionism) thatwas until he came across Cubism. It changed his outlook andbefore too long began creating art that was to lead to his’Neo-Plastic’ Art. (the perfection of the 90 degree angle).Perhaps a first sign of what was to come was the painting‘Still Life with Ginger Pot #2 of around 1911, which led him to almosttotal abstract in the later work ‘Colour Planes Oval.’Mondrian’s thoughts on art were complex and involved spiritualitymore so than many other artists. *Theosophy played an importantrole in his creation process, as did the belief that his plastic creationswere the ending and not the beginning of Art. His paintings, he said theywere to be considered as part of ‘the wall’ and not an object that was simplyplaced upon it.*(ref to: Spiritual movement founded in 1875 as the Theosophical Society byHelena Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott.Before the dictatorial Russian Socialist Revolution, many Russian artistscould travel freely to the West. In particular to Paris and Berlin and it canbe taken as read that both Kazimir Malevich (1878-1935) and WassilyKandinsky (1866-1944) had contact with and was well aware of the newCubist developments in painting. And fully understood what the newexpression had to offer as the basis for looking at the world and art creationin a totally new and different way.‘Still Life with Ginger Pot #2 -circa1911( 36 inches x 47inches- 920mm x 1200mm)

14 Piet Mondrian. “Colour Planes in an Oval” 1914. 42 inches x 31 inches - 1070mm x 787 mm

15 It’s seems quite astonishing that one single movement, one that opened the door to a new way of expression and a new way of creating paintings, appears to have been the springboard for almost all the abstract art in Europe from 1909 and well into the middle of the twentieth century and possibly beyond into twenty first century. A number of reasons may have been the root for that extraordinary longevity of Cubism’s influence on painters and painting. In 1911 a group of enthusiastic new-cubist painters gathered themselves together within an exhibition at the Salon des Indépendents, their part of the show gained extensive press coverage as ‘the start of a new French art movement’. Even though neither Picasso nor Braque took part in the exhibition, Cubism was further promoted in 1912 in a book published and authored by Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger, both newly committed cubists painters. “the Eiffel Tower.” Robert Delaunay 1909-1910 More importantly an exhibition, supported810mm x 1160mm. ©StaatlicheKunsthalle, Karlsruhe. by enthusiastic sponsor(s), resulted in a travelling Cubist show touring most European Cities, including: London, Barcelona, Cologne, Zurich, Munich, Berlin, Prague and Moscow. The travelling Cubists exhibition had now ‘lit the art worlds blue touch paper’ and the whole of Europe was on fire with a light that burned very bright indeed. Some would say, blindingly so. Before 1914 another new and forceful ‘spin off’ movement from Cubism arrived on the scene with a bang. The first indication of it was a manifesto printed on the front page of a French newspaper (La Figaro, 1909). The manifesto was written by the Italian Poet and Playwright Emilo Marinetti.- ‘Futurism’ - was the chosen word to describe it. It’s baseline was the total rejection of all classical art, in all its forms. And insistence of the acceptance that ‘Machines’ & ‘Speed’ were the new form of beauty and should be regarded as a sort of new (artistic) religion. Although the real aim of the Futurists was to place Italy at the forefront of all European culture.Jean Metzinger. “Tea Time.” 1911. 759mm x 702mm. Marinetti’s fanatical ravings also placed ©Philadelphia Museum of Art. violence and war as worthy ‘cleansers’ of a corrupt cultural society and [all the art] that had gone before Futurism was void, he said. However, the ‘Futurists’ active support for World War One, some years later, was it’s downfall. Perhaps wrongly, Futurism became to be regarded as a ‘Fascist’ or ‘Violent Art’, because of the dogma of the Marinetti manifesto in 1909 (perhaps?)

16 Giacomo Balla. “Girl running on a balcony.” Yet the paintings of leading painters were in fact quite different, their work was superbly painted and ground breaking in their own right. Fracturing the images by interlacing curvatures in a repeated image gave the impression of movement and time. Dynamic images of trains, steam and power lines supported the ‘modernistic’ outlook of the Futurists. It was a method that was to be used more discreetly in the later twentieth century by many artists and even today it’s basic‘structures’ are repeated by many artists using a different subject matter, but with the same technical break down of curved repetitive fracturing of the surface. The ‘Futurist’ artists and best known for their original paintings, were Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carra and Giacomo Balla. Umberto Boccioni. “Dynamism of a Cyclist” 1913

17 “Art...as in sculpture, verbal art, art and music etc - has been subjugated by the shapes of nature, waiting to be liberated...”Other ‘stand-out’ figures (besides those already mentioned) in the new abstract painting of the earlytwentieth century were Malevich and Kandinsky. Malevich an artist (from the Ukraine) had walkeddown the path of impressionism to Cubism before arriving at his concept of Suprematism.The formalised style of painting that suggested that all art past and recent art prior to Suprematism“...as in sculpture, verbal art, art and music etc - has been subjugated by the shapes of nature,waiting to be liberated...” the opening line extracted from ‘Cubism to Suprematism’ and written byMalevich in 1915.His process of creating a painting from shapes that were not present in nature (squares, oblongsetc) was an idea shared by quite a few of his fellow artists. They had all believed in and veraciouslysupported the ‘workers’ revolution of 1917 which they understood as a new beginning for a newmodern art and a new Russia. Which did happen, but perhaps not how they had envisioned. Theynaively believed that they were duty bound to reflect the spirit of a newly found freedom froma former materialistic society, little realising they were supporting a system that would be far worse.Kazimir Malevich. “the Woodcutter” 1912. 37 inches x 28.25 inches940mm x 715mm. Cubism with inference to Léger style of tubular figuration.

18 Kazimir Malevich ‘Suprematist Painting’. before 1927. Oil on canvas. 33.5 inches x 27.2 inches 840mm x 695inches.

19 “power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely ” (George Orwell, from Animal Farm 1945).Where Malevich was a passionate Ukrainian, Kandinsky appeared to be more of a cold academic.He was from the bourgeois side of Russian society (prior the Revolution). And he was anextremely well educated man who hadn’t turned his hand to ‘Art’ until he was thirty years old,(unlike Malevich who had committed himself to art from an early age). Kandinsky’s love of musicbecame integral for him when creating art, to try and attain an art that held the same power(resonance) as music - “to overwhelm the senses and experience’ the inner spiritual feelings ofa human”..being the goal. It became his quest to establish a formula, in much the same way asmusic had notes to indicate tone or pitch. Kandinsky sought after a theory of colour (and later line)that could perform the same functional formula as musical written notes. His research eventuallyled to the beginning of an abstract painting approach which began with the well known series ofworks, called ‘improvisations’ and ‘compositions.’During Kandinsky’s position as Commissariat for Education for the revolutionary new Russianstate, and after he had returned to Russia from Paris & Germany, his paintings became lesshaphazard in their appearance and more organised using geometric formal forms. Perhaps notunlike Malevich, Theo Van Doesburg and Mondrian’s paintings, which was following on the sameline at the same time. It is probably important to mention the guiding role of Vladimir Mayakovski,who although had trained as painter, became a poet and the unofficial leader of the Russianavant garde for two decades (he committed suicide in 1930 at the age of thirty seven years old).Mayakovski created ‘visualisations’ for some of his ideas for posters and socialists propaganda,normally drawings, but usually carried out to greater fulfilment by Alexandre Rodchenko, whohad adapted collagé (from Cubism) and used it to create photographic montage’s as the mainmedium of choice. Many believe (including the writer) that in the later twentieth century Westerncommercial product advertisement design’ sprang from Rodchenko artwork of this era.Kandinsky. Composition V11. 1913. Oil on Canvas. c. 78.5 inches x 118 inches - 2000mm x 3000

20 This relatively short, but important era of Russian Modern Abstract Art is generally to be later known as ‘constructivism’ – A mode of abstract art which generally was created with the ambition to serve the proletariat. Every day items would be redesigned, renewed and reproduced with the total involvement by all the avant garde artists, the ones who had dedicated themselves to the revolutionary future of Russia of 1917. By 1920 the ‘idealistic’ revolution began to be dominated by the state. Who, like most socialistic dogmatic ideology, wanted to control all aspects of life within the confines of its own borders. This control also included Art. A dictate was implemented and the sterile art of Social Realism was to serve the State (right up to the USSR implosion in 1991). Kandinsky fled to Germany and gained an influential position at the Bauhaus. Malevich escaped jail by having friends testify (and forge documents) that he was not in the services of enemies of the Russian State. Whereupon being released from custody he went back to the Ukraine (from Moscow) and lived out his life painting portraits of family and landscapes. Mayakovski committed suicide and the rest of the avant garde conformed to create exactly what the State wanted them to create. “...our heads are round, so that thoughts can change direction.” Francois Marie Martinez Picadia. French painter 1879-1953) Back in the West, around 1914 to 1918, those artists who had not willingly joined in the war, or them that had not been enlisted against their will, fled to the safety of neutral Switzerland. A country where the war’s protagonists could each protect their respective war chests by way of a mutual agreement. It was in Switzerland, the land of cuckoo clocks and high flying bankers, that a few ‘immigrant’ artists created a sort of multi-art-disciplined circus for their own and others amusement. They saw, by way of the unfolding tragic world events, that the materialistic society had failed the world.That it was totally corrupt and made little sense to the ordinary citizen. They believed Art should reflect the non-sensical materialistic society by making, creating and performing non-sensical Art. It was a provocation to society that they sought and any sort of negative, rowdy or chaotic reaction from the audience that occurred from them being outrageous, then the more successful the Art was, or so they believed. Again the first world war had everything to do with this art movements attitude towards art and art creation which was transcribed as ‘anti-art’ or later in the twentieth century or as the ‘Negation’ of Art. Marcel Duchamp, was first and foremost a painter, who had formally created Cubistic canvas’s. He became a convinced ‘Dadaist.’ (c.1914 onwards) And began his voyage of attempting to purposefully antagonise the art institutions (with reference to the now famous Fountain- urinal signed R.Mutt of 1917). But as is often the case, the world art establishment simply ‘absorbed’ and ‘projected’ him to the highest art platform it could muster. So, we assume, that he could be looked upon and be intellectually adorned by future generations of academics, art critical thinkers. Perhaps this was the early beginnings of what in part two of this feature is called art’s omega. It is also worth noting that in 1921 Joan Miro (1893-1983) having already had contact with his friend and fellow artist Picasso, also had contact with the Poet Reverdy, the new movement of Dadaism and the Surrealists, which transformed his paintings and led to the unique and stylised painting we see today in national art institutions. above: Marcel Duschamp. 1912. Title: “Le Passage de la Vierge a la Mariée” Transition of Vigin into a Bride. 535mm x 590mm - Here we see Duschamp in his Cubist frame of mind. Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) New York USA.

21part two omegaThe 1930’s witnessed the rise of the mostradical right wing nationalist states.In Germany the National Socialist Partybegan its climb from a grouping ofdisillusioned demobbed world war onesoldiers to a powerful political force backedand supported by wealthy businessmen whobelieved they could utilise this Nationalistictrend for their own benefit. It was perhapsthe evil marketing genius of Joseph Goebelswho, encouraged by his Führer, begansystematically gathering what he called‘degenerate’ art into a single exhibition, withthe aim to exorcise it from the new ThirdReich’s cultural dogma.The exhibition, in an ironic way, was probablythe largest showing of abstract painting andmodernism by the greatest artists that hadever seen the light of day. Seven hundred andthirty works were hung to show the ‘offensiveArt’ and among the one hundred and twelveartist that were condemned for producingthese works included: Klee, Kokoscha,Picasso, Beckmann, Max Ernst, Kirschner,Nolde, Kandinsky, Grosz, Dix and Chagall tomention just a few.Perversely, over 2000 visitors a day queuedup to view the Art, with a total audience ofover 20,000 by the end of the exhibition.It was perhaps the most popular art exhibitionthat had been negatively promoted by anyNational Government.The effect of the Fascist movement (also inItaly and Spain) encouraged a sort of exodusof artists from Europe to the USA during thesecond world war. The Armoury show of 1913a decade or more earlier, had seen a totalaudience of 100,000 visitors, this was whereAlfred Stieglitz had unveiled Cubism, (Picassoand Matisse), to the American Public andAmerican artists, that had paved the way forEuropean abstract painters to be welcomedby the artists and the art institutions of theUSA from 1937 to 1944. This developmentcontributed to the massive influence, ofwhat we now know as, American AbstractExpressionism, on the painters of Europeafter the second world war and up to our owntime.

22 “ Before discussing the american abstract expressionist flowering, I would to highlight a painting which from my own personal standpoint, is one of the most important abstract works created in the Western Civilisation during the twentieth Century and as yet, and in my opinion only, still unsurpassed in the current century.” Denis Taylor Editor. The painting was a commission by the Spanish Republican Government for the Spanish Pavilion of the Paris international show of 1937. It was awarded in January (1937) to their most famous Son - Pablo Picasso. In April of the same year the German air force bombed a Bask village (in support of Franco’s Nationalistic forces fight in the Spanish Civil war). The destruction and death toll was published as photographic and written reports by the Ce Soir and L’Humanite journals. Picasso chose this tragic event as his subject using the photographs as motivation but drawing from his paintings of the previous two decades for style and application of paint. He instinctively went for a monotone and lined tonal finish, having experimented with colour and forms in some fifty studies prior to its painting. His artist comparion, Dora Marr, also worked on the canvas. The painting, on its completion measured:11.5 feet x 25 .5 feet - 3493mm x 7766 mm. It was entitled ‘Guernica’ (named after the village that was bombed). The painting was not greeted with overwhelming delight by the Spanish authorities at the time,

23however this work has become a sort of iconic symbol of the barbarity of war.And it stands, even today, as a constant reminder of the consequences to them that choose allout war as an answer to solving problems between Nations. A copy was installed at the UnitedNations Assembly hall which was covered by a curtain when Colin Powell announced to theworld in 2003, that the USA (and allies) had declared War on the (Hussein). Government ofIraq and would attack within days of the announcement. The image that lay behind Powell, wasmuted by a veil of blue cloth, had it not been nullified, that declaration probably could not havebeen made, especially in the place that was specifically created to keep the peace by negotiationand the power of the unity of all the Nations of the world.(note: It has since been removed from the building).The force of that painting is, I believe, still felt today. And although I do not consider ita masterpiece in the strict sense of the word, in strictly painting terms, it is none the less anincredible painting that has enormous value to the future generations of humankind. “...artists who live and work with spiritual values cannot and should not remain indifferent to a conflict in which the highest values of humanity and civilisation are at stake.” ...an extract from Picasso’s address to the American Artists Congress, New York, 19 December 1937.

24 In the USA the artists who had fled to America to avoid the hostilities of Europe included, Mondrian, Chagall, Dali, Ernst, Léger and Moholy-Nagy which at last had put real human faces to the European abstract art for American artists. The Museum of non-objective art in New York (later known as Salomon R. Guggenheim Museum) already had displays of the work of the best (and the last) of Monet’s water-lilies. It also had on show Matisse’s ‘Red Studio’, and a few informal abstract Kandinsky’s. New York became the home of Hans Hoffman, an art teacher who had personal knowledge of the development of the work by Matisse, Delauney, Picasso and Kandinsky. Which must have contributed to the understanding of abstract painting on the younger American generation of students at the time. (note: Mondrian did not have a solo exhibition in the USA until after his death in 1944). Duchamp was also to be counted in the European artist émigré mix and his influence was heard and felt on the logical ironic conclusions of modernism in Europe. America has seen itself become a world power in direct opposition to the Communist desires to control the planet. Free thinking, individualism, democratic rights of the people became its mantra in the minds and hearts of the American people. American artists followed this mantra backed by an obsession to create an ‘American Art’ as good, if not better, than the European established art ‘ism’s of the previous four decades. Readers should be made aware that none of the painters who pioneered American Abstract Expressionism were young artists. Most had been around the block a few times and had gained their ‘skill & understanding’ by a modicum of successful semi-abstract works and a determination to go beyond what they saw as the limitation of their own ‘known American style’ of painting.

25For example, Mark Tobey was 58 years old, Mark Rothko 45, de Kooning andClifford Still, 44, Arshile Gorky and Barnet Newman 43, Yves Kline was 38, withJackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell the youngest at 35 years old.Of these outstanding artists probably the most known works amongcontemporary painters today is Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko.There have been volumes written about these two artists alone and most of thebooks on them have been well read in most countries of the world.Their methods and meanings behind their work probably needs no long-windedexplanations in this feature. Suffice it to outline the base lines and try to explainhow, in my view, painting became side lined in favour of other modes of Art.Left: Pollock #1 ‘Number 1” 1948 (68 inches x 104inches – 1730mm x 2650mm) above: Mark Rothko - One of the many ‘expressions’ works.

26 Mondrian: “Broadway Boogie Woogie” 1942-1943. 50 inches x 50 inches- 1270mm x 1270mm. In the war years, Mondrian, immortalised New Yorks architecture and street grid system in his painting “Broadway Boogie Woogie” between 1942 and1943. It was the first time he had varied his system (pattern) of painting and it could have led to more variations, but he died a year later. Léger, had seemingly gone back to figuration of a sort by 1948 or 1949. Jackson Pollock had painted the now renown large canvas “# one” and was headed towards a dead end where his idiom could go no further (this also happened to other artists with limited idioms including Mark Rothko). Cubism had passed into the territory of the Art Museum and the Art History books. It was in this era of the world where there was an uneasy feel that the end (of the world) was nigh. Nuclear war was the biggest fear, especially in the USA and also in Europe. Against this invisible fearful environment the pioneer American artists of abstract expression gathered themselves to discuss what mattered the most in their art (and life). It turned out to be their inner feelings about the human conditions of love, hate, fear, spirituality and the unknown. They turned to an ‘unspoken’ belief system that hovered on the edges between Judeo/ Christian/Buddhist/Jung-ism inclinations and atheism, but never bowing to either one of those dogmas per sé.

27Barnet Newman made his breakthrough with paintings that were colour fields broken bya stripe, or caesura. His thinking with this a break, or a caesura, represented light breakingthrough a dark space, perhaps just like the flash of a bomb going off ? But his hope was toimply peace or some miraculous saviour appearing in the light. Clifford Still went further in1949 by rejecting art that could resemble anything at all. His paintings of bright primary colourswere overlaid by incidental patches of black, giving the impression of torn or old posters thathad been affected by a traumatic environmental incident. Mark Rothko (from 1947 to 1958)had reached his idealistic tonalities. He created these by layer upon layer of turpentinedthinned oils using a basic three part oblong colour field system. Rough around the edges, eachpanel were surrounded by a neutral colour. It gave the sensation that panels were floating inspace. This gave the viewer an almost transcendental feel and that the work was imbued bythe spirit of mother nature or the creator of the universe. The common thread of these workswas size, and it mattered. ‘Big’ was essential for this sort of work for it to work as Art.When exhibiting these huge paintings it was when the viewers stood in front of them thatthey would physically feel how ‘awe inspiring’ the paintings really were, that was the artistsintent in creating exceptionally large canvases. Newman insisted that the audience shouldstand very close to his work, to enable the power of the colour and the caesura to envelopethe viewer. This kind of Art demanded both intellectual and a spiritual awareness byconcentrated ‘looking’ – It was insistent on deep meditation and inward examination of selfand soul ‘demand’ on the audience that younger artists decided to seek another path.above: Mark Rothko: Tate: ©Kate Rothko- Chrostopher Rothko. DACS 2017.

28 Although the colour field painterly abstraction art continued with Ellsworth Kelly (1965) and Jules Olitski through to and past 1966, it was at this juncture artists like Frank Stella, Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland began introducing new elements into the abstractionists make- up. Shaped canvases, figure painting and identifiable or implied human forms was slowly returning to painting. In Europe ‘versions’ of this kind of more traditional artistic line of work had been seen to be produced by artists like Nicolas de Stael (figure by the Sea 1952) and Francis Bacon ‘Study for a crouching Nude’ 1952. And later Rodger Hilton (October 1956). Nicolas de Stael. “Figure by the sea.” 1952. Oil on canvas. 63.5 inches x 51 inches -1615mm x 1295mm - ©Kunstsammlung, Nordhein-Westfalen. William De Kooning who had benefited from Pollock ‘opening the door’ to abstract expressionism’s acceptance and subsequent reverent opinion of it, introduced the world to his ‘Women’ paintings. It was these works that broke the seriousness and saw a ‘known’ artist re-introduce figuration into abstract painting. The reception was not really appreciated that much at first. People viewed these images of ‘women’ as crude and vulgar. And it was fear of that audience reaction that had made de Kooning hesitant in finishing them, let alone exhibiting them. He considered abandoning them as worthless, had it not been for the art historian Meyer Shapiro, who judged the unfinished work worthy of completion, they would not have seen the light of day otherwise (almost the same situation as Picasso’s painting Les Demoiselles d’Avignon over four decades earlier).

29 William de Kooning. “Woman 1” 1950-1952. Oil on canvas. 75.7inches x 58 inches 1923mm x 1473mm - ©collection. Modern Museum of Art, NYC, USA.De Kooning, could never understand why the audience did not find the ‘Women’ paintings‘funny.’ As that was how he viewed them and the mood in which he painted them.But- Abstract Art was not supposed to be humorous – especially within the intellectual circlesof America and Europe, at that time.It was this very human approach to art that saw de Kooning’s art cross over the generationgap and into the 1960’s - which began to’ bed-in’ humour, light heartedness and put fun intocreating abstract or realistic art. The new generation of artists suggested that if the worldreally was going to be brought to a sudden end by a nuclear war, then it would be logical toensure you had a good time before everything was blown away and destroyed for ever......so, why take Art or life that seriously?

30 Robert Rauschenberg had already (by 1955) began to experiment with what he called ‘combine-paintings’, which went some way to remove ‘actual painting’ from abstract art. He went further along that path in 1958 when he created two paintings using ‘montage’ (harking back to synthetic cubism). Also in 1958 Jasper Johns created his now famous, ‘Flags’, which was a total removal from ‘abstract painting,’ as such and a journey into realism with a twist of a smirk on his face. In the UK, Richard Hamilton also used ‘montage’ come ‘collage’ for his..”what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing? A poster for the “This is Tomorrow,” exhibition. All this was leading to the advertising type world of images - a world that Andy Warhol would rise from and form his ‘Factory.’ Pop Art supplanted abstract painting as the preferred ‘hang-out’ for the new generation as a symbol of a new free and liberated lifestyle. Optical Art (c.1963-67), which many may see as abstract painting, I think is really in a classification of its own, as was its following movement ‘minimalism’. Artists like Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely (optical or kinetic art) being the best known and Agnes Martin probably the best lead minimalist artist. But these were peripheral movements and the main thrust of abstraction expressionism had diminished. Rauschenberg - Bed- 1955 -75 inches x 31.5 inches x 6.5 inches- 1900mm x x 800mm x 165mm. One of his ‘combine’ paintings. The new art of the 60’s onwards, in some strange twist of history, came from a reformed and intellectualised radical form of Dadaism (from 1914). Marcel Duchamp who was still around, and was seen (righly or wrongly) as the main spokesman for ‘new-non-art.’ He encouraged that thought, one that he had adopted as early as 1916. It became an adapted ‘idea’ that insisted that anything and everything was Art. (Duschamp had in fact been painting all the time in secret, right up to his death in 1968) From around the late sixties and into the latter end of the seventies Art became exactly that:-. ‘Art was anything’ an artist said it was.’ It was regarded as serious Art, provided it was exhibited in an Art Gallery. Slowly, painting abstracts was not new anymore and fell by the wayside. There were of course Painters who refused to accept that ‘paint on canvas’ was old and finished as an art form, and carried on regardless. John Hoyland, Gillian Ayres and John Walker, were just three of many artists that refused to capitulate to post modernism ideals and remained faithful by using paint on canvas rather than any other contingency. None the less, and in general, one could say that from around 1982 abstract painting had gone from Alpha to Omega. And painting as an art form, in general, was pronounced formally ‘dead’ as predicted in the early part 1960’s by it’s detractors and former supporters.

31part threeAlpha, a new beginning?By the turn of the twentieth century there was a significantuneasy feeling among creatives. Maybe it was becausethe conceptual, come installation art form, had dominatedcontemporary art for so long that it had reached the pointwhere it had become ‘institutionally-approved art.’And therefore only represented the Conservative ArtEstablishments opinion of what was contemporary art, withnothing or little else considered as serious art.The conventional medium of painting had not only beenignored, but often ridiculed by Academics as ‘not a seriouschoice of medium’ to create a new contemporary art work.This was more apparent in Europe than it was in the USA.Which had, in the main, accepted and had retained ‘painting’on the curriculum of universities and art academies.This wasn’t the case in Europe, especially the UK, whereslowly but surely ‘painting’ was removed not only fromUniversities curriculums but also actively eradicated totallyby the new breeed of zealous art professors discouragingstudents of including painting in their portfolios for yearending assessments (some making the threat of immediatefailure if they did so). Talent, skill, colour understanding andartistic authenticity became a thing of the past and all theselater day basic elements and knowledge for art creation usingpaint as medium was declared ‘obsolete’ in favour of a PostModernistic approach to art where plagiarism was not onlyallowed but expected and encouraged for the studentto make it part of his ‘process’.Not every one agreed with the post-modernism dogma,and many Artists, in general, became tired of restrictingthemselves to the non-physical involvement of art creation,mixed with the re-making of someones else’s original ideafrom the recent past. And where the actual process of thecreation was secondary, or unimportant. Disillusioned withthe philosophy of post modernism and conceptualism, whereonly the ‘idea’ of a work of Art was the thing that was worthyof consideration, traditional painting became more and moreattractive to Artists once again. This was despite the unevenhanded approach to painting in the Art Education system.Painting flourished, especially with the underground artists,who were mostly dogged painters from the 1980’s, also thegraffiti artists. And with some help from small exhibitions bythe commercial galleries on high streets in provisional towns,painting began to prove that it was very much alive and hadnot ‘died off’ as it was predicted it would in the later stages ofthe Twentieth century.“Easel painting, like any other classic means of painting or sculpturehas served its term. Still sublime at times, it is approaching the endof a long monopoly...”The New Realists. End of painting predicted in 1960.Quote from the first manifesto. Written by Pierre Restany.

32 “ there is no such thing as abstract painting, everything comes from something..” Pablo PicassoThe catalyst for a figurative painting resurrection For me, as a painter, it is an exciting period andmay have come from a movement that became like many creatives today, I feel the freedom andknown (in Europe) as the ‘Transavantgarde.’ Achille the challenge that the choice of medium, methodBonito Oliva, an Italian critic overseen the new, or of painting and varied subject matter represents.more appropriately, renewed, an art philosophy The ‘outlets’ (galleries) for this eclectic view of Artthat rejected the left wing [political] thinking and its is also far more receptive and widespread than onecorresponding artistic psychoanalysis. They returned would imagine. Today independent Artists can hireto encouraging the use of traditional materials and spaces in purpose made pop-up type art galleriesthe creation of Art imbued with not only talent but which cater specifically for independent artiststhe invention of new image communication forms shows. Many painters are grouping themselvesor symbolic signs. They gained an international together as ‘gallery-studios’ or as a gallery artists runaudience in 1982 with an exhibition that was mounted co-operatives with varied types of work exhibited,in Rome. The leading Transavantgarde artists who pool their finances to ensure each individualincluded Chia, Cucchi and Clemente with Baselitz exhibition gains the right amount of marketing andand Keifer in Germany, who are often thrown into public exposure needed for reasonable success.the mix of the artists in this re-engagement withpainting. What was also significant was that a few Private commercial galleries are starting to workartists in the USA seemed closer to the European together to share ‘artists’ ideas and organise singleTransavantgarde mind set than they did to the ‘pop’ theme shows to encourage audiences to travel fromor the ‘hyper-realists’ practitioners one exhibition in one gallery, then onto another with(for example, Julian Schnabel). the same theme. The future for commercial galleries, it seems, rests in a multifaceted genre of art ratherThis goes to illustrate how the Art in the public than the singular specialised favoured choice ofview (via media coverage), the one sanctioned and art genre of the last century. They are beginning toapproved by art institutions, can be misleading with co-operate with each other, rather than stick to thethe implication that Art is binary or lineal. Most artists ‘competitor’ mentality of the past.know that Art is and always has been, dynamic and It is perhaps the ‘competition’ from the www that hasmultifaceted. We are only in the 17th year of a new encouraged the high street gallerists along thiscentury, but these last seventeen years are proving co-operative path.to be milestones in painting development, albeit not The www has been a major contributor to theto the same extent that Cubism changed how artists ‘democratising’ of Art, especially in painting,think about how they could create a work of art. with abstract paintings now gathering as much acceptance and popularity as the traditionalThe neo-expressionism of the Transavantgarde of landscape or nostalgia art has enjoyed over thethe 1980’s led to more and more figurative interest in last decades. Art, and painting in particular, isart creation. And in certain ways figurative abstract unpredictable, it should surprise us and it shouldpainting has asserted itself as the popular choice of never be announced, at least before it is finished.many artists. Today figurative abstraction appears atthe forefront of recent painting. It can take the form As this special feature is all about abstract art I canof abstracted human forms, landscape, emotional think of no better way to round it off than showing theor personal experiences. The resulting artworks all work of the artists selected to be included in it.carry something ‘real’ as the key element in the work The artists vary in background, nationality andof the artist. Art for Art ‘s sake, or Art as an object in attitudes to Art. One or two are very well known, oneitself is no longer the main concern. or two are very accomplished and one or two will be new names to the reader of this magazine.What is apparent today is that the visual art playing All of the artists who have agreed to have their workfield has widened and levelled itself to be inclusive included have a commonality, they are painters whorather than exclusive, as it was once was not so long tend to create abstract work rather than absoluteago. Realism, semi-realism, abstraction in all it’s traditional figurative paintings.forms, gestural expression, geometric formal, andinformal and combination abstraction (objectivity The twelve artists featured, each with one, two ormixed with non-objectivity), photographic-painting three examples of their work, and a brief note bymontages, video, digital art and graffiti, all have an myself about them and their art, may give the readeractive role to play in the kaleidoscope of todays a glimpse of what is happening with the developmentvisual art world. The whole history of art and art of figurative abstract paining today. I have alsoism’s seems to have merged into an array of visually included some paintings of my own and welcomestimulating and exciting art, but only new in the sense reader comments and critic, as no doubt the otherthat they are created in the ‘here and now’ and reflect artists featured will also will welcome your thoughtsthat ‘here and now’ – however, it is perhaps a more on their work.short sighted view of culture that is held today than itwas in the middle of the twentieth century. Denis Taylor, artist and editor, painters Tubes email: [email protected]

33John WalkerPhotography of John Walker, above,courtesy of Alexandre Gallery, NYC, USA. I first read about John Walker’s work in the early editions of the now highly regarded book on art, ‘The Story of Modern Art.’ by Norbert Lynton. He made a comment about John Walker’s paintings which (in1989) gave me the encouragement to continue with painting as my chosen Art form ...Lynton wrote; “John Walker disposes hard and soft areas of colour, mists and textures, and hinted-at structures over broad surfaces as though to champion the right to go painting when many others think of painting as an old habit that long ago lost it validity....” Here, Lynton was talking about the series of work ‘Conservatories’ painted around 1978- 1979, which were quite large canvases 80 inches x 60 inches - 2032mm x 1524mm) a format John seems to prefer. John was born in Birmingham, England and was educated at Birmingham Art School and the British School in Rome and the Académie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris. He was artist in residence at Oxford University (1977-1979) and at the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He also taught art at the Royal College of Art in London, UK. He represented Britian in the Vienice Biennale and after moving over to the USA received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1982. His solo exhibitions include; Museum of Modern Art, NYC, the Philips Collection, Washinton DC, the Tate Gallery, London, the Hayward Gallery, London, the Kunstverein, Hamburg Germany and the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. It’s an impressive and encouraging list for any painter that points to a validation of a ‘belief in Painting’ as an Art form today. Since around 1992, John has been teaching in Boston University’s Graduate Program in painting and sculpture and no doubt his enthusiasm is still being transferred to painters of the future. His current work, (see next pages) continues his exploration using abstract forms with definitive subject ideas.

34 Title: Hush. Oil on Canvas. Painted 2017. 84 inches x 66 inches - 2133mm x 1676mm ©John Walker 2017

35 Title: Red Tide Oil on Canvas. Painted 2017. 84 inches x 66 inches - 2133mm x 1676mm ©John Walker 2017John Walker is represented by: Alexandre Fine Art Inc./Alexandre Gallery 724 Fifth Avenue, 4th Floor ,New York 10019 alexandregallery.com Current exhibition of John’s new work is at the Seal Point, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, Maine, USA. It is running from today through to Sunday, October 29, 2017

36 Kayla Mohammadi Kayla is a Fine Art lecturer at Massachusetts College of Art and an artist of some note. Her work is varied in size but seems to hold ‘the naural world’ firmly in its grasp. “Helsinki Curvel,” seen here on the right hand page, is perhaps significant for her. Her mother was from Finland, with her father originating from Iran. She was born in the USA. For me when I first viewed the work, the painting immediately said Helsinki Harbour. I am very famiiar with Helsinki, having visited the City many times over the years. The four separate canvas’s positioned in this way gives an air of a strange ‘unified-dislocation’ of the reflections of the sea and the buildings that reflect onto it, is a lasting memory of Helsinki of my own. Her personal translations of feelings into ‘colour’ also delight with the light touch of her brush and colour application. Personally, I find her paintings peaceful, secure and showing an artist who is dedicated to her chosen medium of expression. Kayla has had a number of awards and residencies, (The Joan Mitchell Residency New Orleans, for example) and has received scholarships and grants from 2008 onwards. Other activies include judging for the Boston Young Contemporary Exhibition, the Rhode Island Council for the Arts Award in 2009, and the Harvard University Reflection in Action. (judging). Her work is in a whole host of Museums, Embassies and Universities and private collections. She has exhibited in group and had solo shows from 1998 onwards. visit www.kaylamohammadi.com - to view more of her work

37 Helsinki - Curvel96 inches x 72 inches (total mounted) 2438mm x 183mm ©KaylaMohammadi

38 ‘ Ochid and Jade’ 48 inches x 60 inches - 1219mm x 1524mm ©KaylaMohammadi ‘ Yeloow Landscape ll ’ 48 inches x 60 inches - 1219mm x 1524mm ©KaylaMohammadi

39Lisa KreuzigerLisa achieved an MA in English and taught language and was thedirector of studies for languages for four years at the MLS,Marburg, Germany. The reason for conveying this information is toemphasise her natural tendency for investigating the complexities ofcommunication and how visual communication has the possibility toshort-cut language in an immediately understood visual message.In 2008, Lisa decided to spent time in the USA and she left Germanywhich coincided with her decision to become an independent full timevisual artist. Her concerns are the seeing’process of a human, whichand in her words: “ ..are not limited to the physical or the bio-chemicalprocess of the eye, but seeing also has an emotional and intellectualdimension involving the whole range of perception.”It is a line of thinking, especially when creating a painting, that I am infull sympathy with. Her work therefore reflects ‘reality’ but abstracted,modified and simplified by use of shapes of colour. The SunCity seriesof paintings are more ‘memories’ of her time and experiences in theUSA (Sacremento) than they are of the actual physical places whereshe lived for a number of years.I am to meet up with Lisa in London (September 2017) where she ismounting an exhibiion entitled “from the Edge of the Mind” at theEspacio Artists Co-operative Gallery, it is a meeting that will form one ofa series of interviews in a future edition of Tubes and one I very muchlook forward to.

40 above: SunSity #13 - Acrylic on Paper. 210mm x 290mm 8.26 inches x 11.5 inches. ©LisaKreuziger

41 above: SunSity #2 - Acrylic on wood panel. 800mm x 800mm 31.5 inches x 31.5 inches. ©LisaKreuzigerwhat the artist had to say about the series of paintings ‘SunCity’.“...SunCity is an ongoing series of abstract cityscapes.Technically, they are multi-layered paintings of shrill yellowness layered over black strokes andinterspersed by lines and fields that are suggestive of architectural structures. As all my work,they are an exploration in the realm of emotion and perception both of which are inextricablylinked. The series is certainly inspired by my life in California where I worked as an artist for morethan two years. SunCity strives to capture an urban environment suffused with intense light asa visceral - not merely a visual - experience. Disassociating of form and color is a means to comeas closely as possible to the core of this experience.I started the series after my return from the US to Europe. So my memory and artistic imaginationhave developed a dynamic of their own. From my artistic point of view it clearly reveals whatneuroscientists now believe: we do not retrieve the original memory of a particular experience orevent; instead we retrieve our last version of this memory. Our memories are therefore alteredslightly each time we remember them. This is an absolutely exciting thought for me as a visualartist when looking at and talking about my work.” Lisa Kreuziger

42 Denis Taylor starting a new ‘reflection’ painting at Studio 5 Sweden 2015 As this feature is about figurative abstraction and how that came about, I will simply relate my own experiences and how I dealt with one aspect of it and my attempts of trying to find a solution to the challenge I had set for myself. My serious interest in figuration and abstract integration began around 1986. I’d been working on a painting that set that path for me for when I later established a studio in Greece. The challenge of a successful canvas which unified abstraction with figuration was not a new concept, but up to 1986 no one had really achieved it. And not being one to shy away from a challenge, I took it on. For me music has always played an important role in painting, and I know that is true of many painters. It is not to ‘simulate’ notes with colour, as Kandisky wanted to per- fect, but to seperate the conscious from the subconscious and make a barier where the two mind sets could not interfere with each other. I found this a useful methodology to create reality paintings and later abstract works. Having also found a controlling ‘third conscious’ assistant, I began (in 1990) with a fifteen metre set of 5 canvas’s with ‘Greek-Dancing’ as the subject line. My environemt suited this perfectly as my studios were then located on a small island in the Saronic Gulf, (Aegina island Greece). After three years of solid painting the ‘Dance’ canvas’s I had to finally admit to myself that the self imposed ‘challenge’ had beaten me.

43 ©denistaylor “Stoned” ©1990-1993. 1500mm x 1000mm. Private Collection. SwedenOne morning I decided to rid myself of the burden and I attacked all the 5 canvas’s witha stanley knife, slicing them all into small pieces. I found myself cutting out specific segments andshapes, especially the human figures and the colour shapes of the background. I then set out a newcanvas (1500mm x 1000mm) and started to arrange the pieces on this new canvas.I allowed the shapes to form themselves into a sort of pattern, before too long I could see what washappening. Later in the day I painted over the ‘cut & stuck’ canvas with oils, enamel and wood dye’s.Adding new figures (see above - human forms to the bottom section).After a short while the new painting from the cut Dance works was finished and I felt I had reached mygoal. The next stage was to ‘simpilfy’ the process with new paintings, using vivid modern colours.

44 ‘reflections series began in 2005 through to 2015. (UK and Swedish studios) In 2005 to 2008, I had a temporary studio in my home town of Manchester, UK. The studio was lo- cated in an old Cotton Mill, next to a canal, one which I walked the paths of frequently whilst thinking about my paintings. It was the Reflections of the old Mills in the Canal that provided me with an ideal theme for a series of paintings using vivid colours, abstract form and figurative reality as one integrated painting, which I had been working on since creating the painting ‘Stoned’ in 1993. There are now around 30 examples of ‘Reflections’, here you can three of them. (in the above photograph and below, both are 1000mm x 1000mm oil on linen. And one to the right in the photograph above measures 1500mm x 1000mm, oil on canvas. All images ©DenisTaylor1986-2017.

45Riccardo Vitiello “same as it ever was” - ©RiccardoVitielloBorn in Tuscany, Italy in 1974, Riccado tells the world on his website that he isa self taught artist. A term I personally think should be outlawed from use by artists.He is in fact a natural born Artist, as many have been in the past and are today. He firstexperimented with video art and creating abstracts images employing photography as hismain medium of choice. Of late he has began creating paintings. He said to me that it is‘colour’ that draws him into creating art and the medium is irrelevent, although it is clearthat ‘hand-made’ art is in fact the most suited to his sensibilty. These two examples remindme of Mark Tobey and maybe the early work of Jackson Pollock.I am looking forward to seeing more of his work (in the flesh) when I visit Italy next year.“the arrival at the Ghost Circus” - ©RiccardoVitiello

46 Jean Mirre above: “Frenzied Life” 650mm x 500mm. Oil on paper. ©jeanmirre Jean wanted to be a poet, he travelled from his native home in France to Ireland to study poetry. He discovered that ‘visual-poetry’ was better suited to him and began a voyage of discovery through an eclectic stylized range of paintings. This varied from miniature painting in traditional ways to testing the new digital paintings that embraced the rock and roll scene of ‘yester-year.’ His current work is more concentrated and immediate. The knowledge and experiences of his long history of making art is clearly shown in these two works. Jean has exhibited extensiveley with admirers and collectors of his work in many countries including, the USA, Japan, Brazil, Belgium, England, Germany, Poland, Spain, Italy, and his home country, France. left: “Serenade” 650mm x 500mm. oil on paper. ©jeanmirre

47Steven HeatonA deicated artist and art organiser, Steven is theDirector of Cross Street Art studios, a non-profit artsco-operative.When I walked into his studio (left photo) the firstthought I had was ‘constructivist’ as the image andshapes had me harking back to that period of Art.Looking further I came around to seeing otherelements, the natural world and the man made worldsort of collided with each other. Steven’s paintingsare the sort that need time (and space) to ponderand in doing so, enjoy.Steven works with oil. acrylic, masking tape andother materials, i.e. bits of wire. Again his idea isto some how illustrate how the City and the naturalworld can work against each other, if we allow themtoo. Perhaps this is the intention of the work to nudgeus into having greater care and understanding aboutthe environment we make for ourselves in the future.“alternative pathways” ©StevenHeaton2017

48 “a time presents itself” ©StevenHeaton2017 Here is what Steven has to say about his work; “ my work presents an alternative view of the natural and chemical landscape as the lines of communication begin to blur, factories rust against an autumnal background, and nature begins to creep into dominance when regular human use declines.” “ghosts of departed quantaties.” ©StevenHeaton2017

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50 David Stanley ©DavidStanley2017 David, is a painter who loves texture. We talked about his process a few weeks ago in his studio, which is part of the Cross Street Studios in Standish, Wigan UK.. He made a point of the ‘metal-sink’ in the corner of his studio as an essential part of his tools. He prepares his canvas with large swathes of colour and then works the image over and over by scrubbing and washing it and repainting it until he ‘sees’ what he is looking for. The image is definately ‘a natue’ scene - maybe - but it is one ‘arrived at’ rather than a place he has painted from reality or that even actually exists. The painting shown here is entitled “thermoclyne.” David Stanley is an established artist with many awards. He has exhibited in USA, Germany and the UK from 1995 onwards. His work can be seen at the exhibition of Cross Street Artists exhibition at the Atkinson Galleries, Southport, current show until 27th Aug.