Juried by Nicole Capozzi and Joshua Hogan.
The birth of abstraction in art cannot be pinpointed to a single instance and really it is something that was born of the complexity and realities of the early modern western world. During the last decade of the 19th century, the then budding artist Wassily Kandinsky saw an exhibition in Moscow of Monet’s haystack paintings. The color in the works seemed to dominate the image so much so that anything recognizable became lost to him.
He wrote of the experience: “Deep inside me was born the first faint doubt as to the importance of an “object” as a necessary element in painting.” Abstraction has been a major language of artistic creation for over a century. It is as viable today as it was throughout the various 20th century art movements that investigated its possibilities. Indeed in 2013 Artnews published an Article by Art Historian Pepe Karmel titled The Golden Age of Abstraction: Right Now. Perhaps what drives artist’s compulsion to investigate further into the realm of abstraction is that any exact definition remains allusive. What we know is this abstraction may be response to or inspiration of something seen or experienced, it may be born of pure concept, it may be void of reference or association and be autonomous in its form and color. Always it seems deeply personal whether coming into existence through intellect or emotion.
Artists included: Angela Biederman, Meghan Baum, Sheila Grabarsky, Lindsey Hayakawa, Scott Hunter, Alejandro Loureiro Lorenzo, Heather Macali, Kim McAninch, Pricilla Roggenkamp and Keith McMahon, Sky Shineman, Sarah Simmons, Brenda Stumpf, Scott Turri, Tracy Wascom, Shawn Watrous, and Carolyn Wenning