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Pleasance in the Essence
11/14/2022
I’VE MADE A DISCOVERY, that at once, corroborates some of the thoughts that I’ve been having about my own artwork lately, as well as giving me a nice toasty warm fire of inspiration!
That discovery is the painter Carmen Herrera.
“My quest”, she said, “is for the simplest of pictorial resolutions”
She was born in Havana Cuba in 1915, attended architecture school for one year before dropping out to pursue painting in 1939. In the late 40’s early 50’s, whilst painting in Paris, she was exhibiting alongside legends such as Piet Mondrian, Max Bill, and Theo van Doesburg, before becoming a permanent resident of New York City in 1953. Where, sadly, and frustratingly, she was more or less ignored for various reasons, not the least of which is that she was a woman.
That discovery is the painter Carmen Herrera.
“My quest”, she said, “is for the simplest of pictorial resolutions”
She was born in Havana Cuba in 1915, attended architecture school for one year before dropping out to pursue painting in 1939. In the late 40’s early 50’s, whilst painting in Paris, she was exhibiting alongside legends such as Piet Mondrian, Max Bill, and Theo van Doesburg, before becoming a permanent resident of New York City in 1953. Where, sadly, and frustratingly, she was more or less ignored for various reasons, not the least of which is that she was a woman.
Nevertheless, from the late 40’s till her death this year, incredibly, she painted! Her minimalist geometric abstractionist paintings are as fresh now as they were 70 years ago, such consistency and freshness over such a long period of time is a testament to her commitment to her craft and the pursuit of the perfect balance of line and shape and color.
“A master of crisp lines and contrasting chromatic planes, Herrera created symmetry, asymmetry and an infinite variety of movement, rhythm and spatial tension across the canvas…” - From Carmen’s profile on the Lisson Gallery website ︎︎︎
It’s incredible to me that she didn’t sell her first painting until she was 89 (according to a documentary), but that she faithfully followed her muse for such a long time without giving up! Finally she had a major exhibition at the Whitney Museum in NYC when she was 101 yeas old, and the last number of years of her life, she found that not only was she finally being recognized for the pioneer that she was, but her paintings were selling for up to a million dollars!
I will think more about why her work speaks to me so much, but I feel I see things in a similar way. Among other things, I can relate to her interest in architecture, and you can clearly see that influence in her paintings and sculptures. I almost pursued architecture myself in my art school days, but instead got a degree in illustration. However, drawing architecture has been a mainstay for me ever since. Drawing the local buildings not only helps me acclimatize to any new environment, but it provides a few moments of meditation on the geometric lines and shapes of the structure, and the space it sits in. What’s most interesting to me is not the capturing of all the overwhelming detail of the structure(s), but the distillation of it to it’s essence. This usually accounts for the drawing itself having more character.
And I’ve found that this is essentially what I’ve been doing with my painting, and it is certainly what Carmen does with hers!
Attempting to practice
non-attatchment - 2021
I aim to be multidimensional - 2021
“I began a lifelong process of purification, a process of taking away what isn’t essential” - Carmen Herrera
I have been pursuing the minimal from the time I decided to get back into art making a few years ago after a long break post art school, and though I have not gone as far as Carmen did to whittle the picture down to the very essence of an idea, I do see similarities in my work, at least in the use of a hard edge, flat shapes and colors, an underpinning architectural and spatial resonance, and a elimination of the unessential.
I’m really looking forward to digging in deeper with her work, and applying what I can learn to mine!