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THE PROBLEM OF THE ROLE OF ABSTRACTION CONTEMPORANEOUSLY

WENDY KELLY

With its emphasis on the figurative, the narrative and allegorical referencing, Postmodernism has by its very nature challenged abstraction. In some circles, Postmodernisms’ condemnation of modernist/formalist influences as being narrow and limited has formed the basis of the continuous theoretical negative positioning of abstraction as a credible visual language. Predicated by abstractions inextricable involvement with the theories of Modernism, particularly the heavily debated Greenbergian formalism, Pincus-Witten (1987 P9) states: ‘The academy of abstraction became The Enemy and the activities covered by postmodernism emerged.’ Thus the concept of Postmodernism as a style, movement or philosophy has had major impact upon all forms of abstraction. It has been said this came about because of a ‘wish to bracket off the modern phase, so to speak, and to extract it from the flux of history.’ (Bann 2007 P36)

As a result, abstraction has been ritually marginalised; however it is still being explored on a broad and interpretive basis. In this paper attention will be drawn to how abstraction is being addressed in the recent past with examples of the approaches taken by artists and how their work is being interpreted. For these examples I will be drawing upon Australian artists and connecting their concerns to work that can be referenced to artists on the other side of the globe. My concern is centred on the two dimensional, that being painting and works on paper. I will be considering issues such as the use of the figurative within an abstract ground, the image/concept divide, and, my main area of interest, the non-figurative/non-objective approach. Attention will be drawn to the types of manipulation of surfaces occurring. These include gestural abstraction, geometric and grid based

abstraction, the role of process, seriality, and materiality and the monochrome/minimal/reductive aesthetic, together with the contention that the use of more conservative materials such as oil and synthetic polymer /acrylic paint predominates. My interest in the problems within this area is more than academic. I am a practicing artist and for the past twenty odd years I have been developing my own abstract visual language. An image of my work will introduce my personal approach and indicate my concerns.

I am, therefore, inextricably aware of all the swings, shifts, philosophical

Wendy Kelly, Undercurrent 2010 mixed technique on canvas 167.6 x 198.2 cm

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questioning and periods of acceptance and of marginalization experienced by this genre.

In the past one hundred years abstraction has adapted its raison d’être to prevailing ideologies. Over what I term as the first three generations of abstraction, in a chameleon like fashion, it has shifted its concerns and has adapted to the complexities of the times. Each generation of Western abstraction differs greatly from the other, but are interrelated in that their influences were often interpretations of the radical, the reactionary, the challenging, or the rebelling against

the evolutionary processes inherent, such as political situations and current philosophies.

To briefly explain my broad categorizations of the development of western abstraction into generations I submit to you that the first generation of abstraction began with early developments in Europe, particularly Russia and the Netherlands, at the beginning of the 20th Century. The evolutionary process of abstraction here came about as a striving towards a visualisation of the concept of a purity of humanity through a hybridisation of religious/spiritual or a Theosophical mystical/occult basis. This ‘rhetoric of purity’ (Cheetham 1991 P3) became a justification and a motive for the experimentation of abstract forms.

The second generation occurred in America between 1930 and the mid 1950s, culminating in the Abstract Expressionist movement and Clement Greenberg’s modernist/formalist interpretations, examples of which are the concept of medium over content and that the painting as such developed object status. Masculine, left-wing, reactionary political in its stance, work of this period also strove towards a form of purity, but here it was a purity of expression and autonomy.

The third generation and the development of Minimalism/Conceptualism embraced a severely reductionist philosophy which pushed the concept of abstraction to a point where an interpretation of the ‘endgame’ or death of painting was expressed and culminated in a temporary eclipse of art as it had been known. It aimed at a purity of means through both methods and concepts.

The striving for purity is just one of the reasons or readings for the development of an abstract visual language. The expressive role of processes, methods and materials, also has influenced styles and concepts of the developing generations.

Nickas (2009 P7) notes, in this ‘post everything world [in which] all art is made today’, gone are the basic tenets of the past. Firstly, the quest for a utopian ideology of the first generation of abstractionists became a hollow promise after World War One, as did the belief in the cosmos or an occult based striving for the concept of a form of spiritual purity. Secondly, gone too is the modernist/formalist revolutionary stance of Abstract Expressionism with its striving for a form of rebellion and desire for a purity of an expressive emotion. The concept of purity had changed

Wendy Kelly, Feather 2010 mixed technique on canvas 167.6 x 243.7 cm

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and through the inventive use of newly developed materials came a belief that painting’s only relevant concern was the abstract disposition of line, colour, shape and space on a flat surface (Heartney 2008 P67). The removal from art of the allegorical, representational or subject basis, and a rejection of the concerns of the psychological and spirituality developed an obsession with pure expressionistic opticality.

In the third instance, Abstract Expressionism’s ‘revolution’ was considered as either politically incorrect or too conventional in nature. Minimalist artists took the desire for purity as far as it could. It is from this point that abstractionism re-invents itself yet again as concept became subject, and with it came further interpretation of materiality. Methodologies polarised, swinging from the polished to a grunge aesthetic. The short lived Process Art Movement and its experiments with materials such as string, cotton waste and lead as creative tools was a reaction to the polished or reductive approach of the Minimalists, a shift perhaps towards an impurity as against previous desires for purity.

‘Then along came postmodernism to further undermine any remaining belief in purity or in abstract arts special relationship to spirituality of universal being.’ (Heartney 2008 P67) Here, abstraction was espoused as having no viable future because of its past influences. It must be said that all forms of abstraction have felt the wrath of Postmodernist figurative referencing and emphasis upon narrative/allegorical/referential concerns. Postmodernism’s philosophies have been questioned to a point where, although not to be dismissed as a past or irrelevant philosophy, lack ‘a dialectical relationship to the past that would take into account the multiple determinations to which Modernism itself was an heir.’(Bann 2007 P36) Rhetoric became so vehement that in some circles it was felt that abstraction had outlived its relevance – again.

Postmodernism has altered the way abstraction has been approached. To reject the incorporation of these changes within one’s visual language can be construed by those who follow the tenet of post-Postmodernism and the debates that surround it, as being foolhardy to the point of being either naive or, dare I say, reactionary.

Notwithstanding, abstraction is still being addressed by artists over the first decade of the twenty-first century, and with more complex approaches, despite the blanket downgrading and marginalising of Modernism. Artists who are working contemporaneously with abstraction or non-figuration are embracing the visual language as a means of expressing a broad emotional range and with greater philosophical intensity. Their use of processes in the making of the work is becoming refined and complex, resulting in new and renewed approaches, skills and sophistication.

Within the genre of abstract painting, the heightened refinement and questioning of materiality seems to have come about as the choices of materials and methods have become more interpretive. For many the choice of media has returned to the traditional, whilst others have embraced technology and digital media. Gordon Monro comes to the expression of visual imagery with a strong knowledge of computer technology. His images evolve, changing and developing on a computer screen and then captured in photographic form. David Harley uses abstract images to produce huge photographic sheets of pigmented ink on poly pop paper. These sheets can be printed to fit the dimensions of a wall, much

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like wallpaper, and move abstraction towards installation. Another artist who uses installation together with performance is Mark Galea. He invites his audience to re-arrange coloured Perspex sheets of various sizes to create their own colour interpretations.

Where synthetic polymer/acrylic and oil paint and brushes seem to be the primary choices of media, contemporary aids and mark making devices such as inert pigments, rollers, rags, collage, extended handles on brushes and masking tape and fluid are also methods or processes used to push the media.

In Australia, the fact that abstraction is not being considered part of the main stream of current art concerns has a consequence that continued exploration of the abstract form is considered as an alternative practice. To quote Jeremy Gilbert-Ralph (2002 P2 in Ryan), ‘Abstraction develops in a subterranean sort of way.’ Two artist-run spaces in Sydney have adopted the exhibiting of non-figurative abstraction as their mission. One is Sydney Non Objective Contemporary Art Space (SNO), and the other is Factory 49. Both spaces are situated in suburban south Sydney, and these like-minded groups of passionate and energetic people consist of artists, academics and supporters who have a broad network with affiliations in Europe and America, (Minus Space, New York) particularly in Holland, Belgium and France, (ParisConcrete), as well as

across Australia (AC4CA, Freemantle). I know of more than twenty such Artist Run Initiatives (ARI), and my knowledge is not exhaustive. The collaborations result in a regular interchange of work for exhibitions from interstate and overseas, together with a valuable support system and intercommunication between artists. Together they form the strongest centre for discussion and debate on abstraction in Australia

Artist’s who are working in an abstract field, when asked why they continue to do so within the current climate reply with a broad base of reasons. I have found the most recurring reasons are; its viability as a visual language to express

David Harley, Fill_4 2011 pigmented ink on Polly Pop Paper dimensions variable

Gordon Monro, Difference Engine 1 and 2 2009 digital print 150 x 150 cm

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emotion, its ability to communicate in a non-narrative way, the intrigue of the role of materiality and as a form of escapism from the abundance of imagery that surrounds us. Many ask me the question, how come we find abstraction in this position, all painting can be interpreted as having abstract elements, compositionally, colour adaption and so forth, regardless of figurative elements. Abstract artists are enthusiastic, informed and passionate, and have an energetic sense of vitality. As a result, and acknowledging abstraction’s history of rebelliously challenging the status quo, abstraction continues to adapt forms of expression and develop fresh approaches. Abstraction shifts to new cycles and alternative stances. The enthusiasm of those who embrace it ensures its continuity and its ability to have a continuing role as an emotive visual language. As expressed by Cheetham (2006 P21): ‘What is most compelling and fascinating about the recent history of abstraction is its vitality in the failed narrative of purity. Abstraction is an infection that will not go away.’

Eleanor Heartney (2008 P68) also extrapolates on the role of purity/impurity within abstraction contemporaneously and states ‘one of the most striking characteristics of abstraction today is its impurity’. Cheetham (2006) explores the concept of purity, impurity, infection and cure within the confines of abstraction, and in doing so moves it conceptually away from the interpretation of a formalist based modernity. Therefore, if indeed the fourth generation of abstraction is

now, its role could be construed as being an expression of a breaking down or a direct negating of the importance of the role of purity in past generations.

An interesting development that has occurred has been the combining of figurative elements within an abstract ground. Nickas (2009 P11) refers to this as being a ‘hybrid’ approach. This move has led to the questioning of the ‘purity’ of

Mark Galea, Do it Yourself 1997 acrylic on Perspex, dimensions variable

Don Laycock, Collapsed Galaxy 2001 oil on cedar 13 x 17 cm

Magda Cebokli Light Painting 2 2008 acrylic on canvas 76 x 76 cm

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both genres and draws attention to the abstract quality of figuration by forcing the question of whether a work can be interpreted as figurative or abstract. Artists who work within this genre seem to have a foot in both camps. There are a number of Australian artists using a figurative basis for their abstraction. Jon Cattapan (Kidd in Murray Cree and Drury Ed 2000 88) uses multiple processes from Photoshop to cut and paste and build his surfaces slowly using complex processes. Louise Forthun varies her application processes also, using stencils spray paint and brush. Dale Hickey (McCulloch, Childs, and McCulloch 2006 P518) works geometrically from a controlled base, namely his studio environment, and John Firth-Smith (McCulloch, Childs, and McCulloch 2006 P425) interprets the romance of the Sydney Harbour as his subject matter. Internationally, Ross Bleckner (Seidner 1999 P8) and Gerhard Richter ( Fineberg 2000 Second Ed P365) are concerned with this particularly ambiguous cross-over between the figurative and the abstract.

For other artists, gesture is paramount. Aida Tomescu is one such

artist. (McCulloch, Childs, and McCulloch, 2006 P957) Gestural marks in thickly applied oil stick and paint are scraped back, rebuilt and manipulated to build raw surfaces. Evidence of the process revealed in the encrusted edge of the work and the act of mark making becomes the passion. Also interpreting a gestural approach Dick Watkins works within the form of loosely brushed energetic mark making. The work of Ann Thomson (McCulloch, Childs, and McCulloch, 2006 P950) is also heavy impasto in application and gestural in quality.

Expressionistic gesture evidences a referencing that is more towards a European sensibility than an American Abstract Expressionist style. Gesture is being explored rhythmically by Richmond Burton (Heartney 2008 P82) (Shivaesque 1996), or emotively by Avery Presman (Untitled (1st Red Painting) 1989). Jane Callister (Schwabsky and Abts 2002 P55) (Liquid Mindscape, 2001) interprets abstraction as an expressionistic gesture in an organic flowing drape of paint. Together with the textural construction of Fabian Marcaccio (Heartney 2008 P265) (Total Paintant, 1999) and the irregular tangles of Terry Winters (Heartney 2008 P76) the complexity of interpretations of non-figurative abstraction are exampled.

In other parts of the world, Brice Marden’s (Helfenstein and Fineburg 2002

Louise Forthun, Apartment 2 Melbourne 2005 oil on linen

Dick Watkins, Thus Spake Zarathustra 2004 acrylic on canvas 182.5 x 182.5 cm

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P102) career has spanned from the 1960s to the present, and has over the years been influenced by the concerns that have had currency. The layered, gestural, linear, calligraphic loops and tangles of recent work are a far cry from his earlier softly coloured waxy monochromes. They are achieved by the use of a long stick or handle that distances the artist from the surface, thus altering the level of control.

The recent work of Bernard Frize (Ryan 2002 P94) also incorporates a linear gesture. His work is in the form of a loose grid and symmetrical pattern which are geometric in composition. Frize speaks of wanting to find ‘another’ approach to painting, and although ‘process, as a thing in itself is certainly not interesting’ (Ryan 2002 P94) to him, he also states that ‘most of the time, I have ideas coming to me through the particular use of materials’ (Ryan 2002 P 95) and that ‘ironically, working out the process and figuring out all the preparations for a painting take(s) longer than the actual act itself.’ (Ryan 2002 P96) Frize has experimented with material processes throughout his career. In the past he has used methods such as carving into multilayer dry paint, dry rolling paint over rough surfaces, and the adherence the top layer of dried paint from paint cans to canvas.

Another international artist whose works fit the genre of mark making non-figurative abstraction is Günther Förg (Ryan 2002 P94). In many examples of his work a grid base is evident. It is loosely represented, and countered with areas of pure intuitive gesture or filled with breaks and disruption. The works are energetic, and monumentally large. Lisa Wolfgramm, a Darwin based

artist, uses a different, gentle mark making within an inherent grid structure to create a shimmering surface.

The grid and the geometric form an alternative stance to that of the gestural

Lisa Wolfgramm, Painting 150, 2004 oil on canvas 182.5 x 152.5 cm

Magda Cebokli, Square #5 2009 acrylic on canvas 101.5 x 101.5 cm

Jennifer Goodman, Harlequin 2010. Oil on linen 200 x 150 cm

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mark. Working with intricate geometric rhythms, Magda Cebokli defuses a taped hard edge by the fineness of the work, concentrating upon an immaculate quality to her surfaces and using a limited and controlled palette. For her, the surface is as if a perfect skin, somewhat akin to the polished surfaces of the early Minimalists, however her work uses an original complex visual language and sensibility that creates a tension that subtly moves beyond a minimalist aesthetic. Mathematics, process, series and control form her visual language. Jennifer Goodman’s controlled veils of colour in grid form are subtle and refined as are the paintings of Mark Galea, whose installation/performance work I introduced you to before. Malinda Harper (McCulloch, Childs, and McCulloch P499) (Untitled, 2003) also use the grid with an emphasis on the perpendicular form (stripes) and high key colour although more tightly than Goodman. Their individually developed processes are paramount to their visual language. Also working with the grid, but using it more as a construction process for the building of layers of pattern, Cathy Blanchflower’s

beautiful and rhythmic works, though still laboriously planned and executed, have developed a softer, more organic painterly approach that permits the sense of the touch of the hand, thus assisting an engagement with the work.

Looking further afield than Australia, there is an influence of geometric Minimalism in the work of Mary Heilmann (Nickas 2002 P 131) (Lovejoy Jr., 2004), although her use of high key colour - pinks, blacks, yellows reds, ‘sweet, violent and kitschy’, (Ryan 2002 P104) is more akin to colour field abstraction. With these works, square or rectangle lozenges are set in a slowly and carefully crafted monochrome field in a way that is reminiscent of Larry Poons and his use of the relationship of his ovoid lozenges, the grid, and the ground, although Heilmann’s grid is more fractured. In other works Heilmann complexly arranges and dissects geometric linear irregular diagonals imbedded within a ground on a shaped canvas. David Joselit (2002 P104 in Ryan) suggests:

Hielmann loads the rationality of the grid not with reverences to the transcendental but … objects that are considered feminine, or the products or props of ‘women’s work’. Her grids refer to weaving, dresses, fans, tablecloths, and serapes. They allude not to the grandly spiritual, but the reality of domestic life, and

Mark Galea, Pleasureground Moonstone 2005 acrylic on linen 168 x 168 cm

Cathy Blanchflower, xxx 2010 oil on canvas 84 x 84 cm

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to the fantasy of film. Peter Halley’s (Heartney 2008 P89)

(Optimizer, 1998) repeated geometric shapes and adapted grids in strong and florescent colours are referred to by Halley in the contemporary terminology of ‘cells, conduits and circuits’ ( Cheetham 2006 P88), more recently Halley has turned to installations. Sean Scully’s (Weihanger 2001 P474) (Red Night, 1997) sophisticated, geometric grid based shapes have uneven softly blended connecting edges constructed from multiple layers of paint. By using a painterly process and a limited muted palette his manipulations evidence minimal influences.

Pattern and geometry is being interpreted individually in the work of Joanne Greenbaum, (Schwabsky and Abts 2002 P128) Sarah Morris, (Schwabsky and Abts 2002 P224) Odili Donald Odita, (Schwabsky and Abts 2002 P130) Katharina Grosse, (Schwabsky and Abts 2002 P130) and Philip Taaffe (Heartney 2008 P81). Tomma Abts (Schwabsky and Abts 2002 P12) works within a system of triangular isometrics.

In other cases the aesthetics of Minimalist approach are being explored, although the results are not as severely minimal as they were in the 1960s. An example is the off-the-wall smoothness of the work of Yek (Schwabsky and Abts 2002 P343). In Australia, artists working in a more minimal approach are Allan Mitelman who continues to show a subtle monochromatic sensibility and has developed an art of the quietest mark making using a variety of tools, while Robert Hunter’s (McCulloch, Childs, and McCulloch P536) immaculate grid based monochrome surfaces of pale greys and whites are occasionally outlined with small pieces of coloured threads to incorporate small lozenges of gentle colour. His grids are structured with hard edges beneath subtly and hardly perceptible modulated veils of paint, applied with a roller. John Nixon (McCulloch, Childs, and McCulloch P730) continues his conceptual referencing in his on going series titled the EPW: Polychrome project.

Scottish artist Callum Innes (Innes, Bradley and Mclean 2006 P35) (Formed Painting No 2, 1991) for example, uses a minimalist approach and a reductive method incorporating a number of techniques. Innes manipulates the resistance that occurs between shellac (a mentholated spirit based resin) and paint, adding the oil paint to the shellac on the canvas while the shellac is fluid. He also manipulates a surface of monochrome oil paint with solvent as it is drying in a reductive action, stripping back the surface to reveal a veiled under surface. These methods have a fluid or flowing quality which can be referenced to the work of Morris Louis, however, the aims and results are very different. Louis used synthetic paint, and though he controlled the flow, his aim was to use the paint to stain the un-primed canvas. Innes, on the other hand, uses the flow of solvent to manipulate an immaculate surface of wet oil paint on sealed or primed canvas He is interested in an act of removal or reduction, not of staining.

Allan Mitelman, Untitled 2001 synthetic polymer paint on paper 56.3 x 38.5 cm

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Minimal aesthetics can be challenged by complex processes. Karl Wiebke’s work Untitled B was in process from 1996 to 2004, during which time it, and he, moved from one side of the continent to the other, while his work Red White Green, 2005 9564-0964-8090 Image 18 (Karl Wiebke, 32-05 Red White Green 2005. Acrylic on Linen 122 x 91.5 cm) did no take as much time; the fineness of the lineal quality demonstrates painstaking process.

The line is seen also in the work of Leonard Brown. This work has a reductive quality, as does the work of A.D.S. Donaldson. 9564-0964-8090 Image 20 (A.D.S. Donaldson, Untitled 2005. Acrylic on canvas 91 x 46 cm) Ian Davenport (Ryan 2002 P32) (Poured Lines: Cream, Yellow, Beige, Dark Blue, Light Blue, 1993) also works within gestural non-figurative abstraction where he ‘investigates the properties of paint.’ (Ryan 2002 P26) His mark making is less intuitive and more conceived and controlled, and familiarity with his medium informs his actions. He interprets chance within the work, controlling it to a point that it no longer appears to be an intuitive action.

Geometry influenced by the supremacist work of Malevich is evidenced in George Johnson’s paintings which take on complex interconnecting geometric structures almost as if they were images. Andrew Christofides, 9564-0964-8090 also investigates a form of geometry. In his case, the structure is more incorporated within the paintings surface, and does not hover as a structure as does Johnson’s. Trevor Vickers also uses a harmonic layer of a vertical geometric format.

I am unable to refer to as many artists as I would care to within the confines of this presentation. Of the work I have researched, it is materiality

Karl Wiebke, 32-05 Red White Green 2005. Acrylic on Linen 122 x 91.5 cm

Leonard Brown, Those who wish to follow him needed the company of others to survive the harsh conditions 2009 oil on linen 152 x 152 cm

Karl Wiebke, Untitled B 2004 enamels on wood 123 x 93.6 cm

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that designates the interpretation and the sensibility of the abstraction - or perhaps it is the other way around, and the sensibility has sought the materials.

Methods of interpreting abstraction currently are as complex as they are broad. Styles incorporate the gestural as well as geometric; the grid is used in both rigid form or as a broken or fractured reference. There can be evidence of the hand in the surface or such evidence can be studiously denied or removed. Patterning or strong lineal elements are used, and colour can be saturated or subtle, surfaces smooth, gestural or impasto. It could it be said that these developments may be interpreted as post-formalist in that they reference a formalist approach, however they have developed concepts beyond Abstract Expressionist formalist theory.

I have exampled developments within abstraction in Australia. It is not in any way exhaustive. My own work is something that I could spend as much time on (if not more) and is even more difficult to summarise as I am so involved. I will include a few examples as an illustration of my concerns. As an artist working in an abstract genre at the beginning of the Twenty-first Century, I can follow the logic and philosophy of the earliest development of abstraction (the first generation), although I cannot relate to the idealism, religiosity or the occult based spiritual/sacred nature of reasoning that proved catalyst to their thinking. Nor can I relate to the political masculinity of the second generation of abstraction. Equally I cannot see that

painting is ‘dead’, nor can I condone an elimination of what I consider a genre. The attraction for me is to use the abstract concept, the freedom of material interpretation and the ability to express personal emotion that I sensed within the oeuvre of non-figurative abstraction. The desire to remove all figuration from my visual language occurred as a reaction to the need to develop a story driven narrative/allegory whilst interpreting ideas within the terms of Postmodernism.

Andrew Christofides, Washington Bridge 2001 acrylic on canvas 30 x 56 cm

A.D.S. Donaldson, Untitled 2005. Acrylic on canvas 91 x 46 cm

George Johnson, Structure with Reclining Red Triangles 1989 acrylic on linen 61.5 x 122 cm

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My question was that if Postmodernism was as pluralistic in its approach as it has been deemed, why then could it not include a deconstruction and re-interpretation of abstraction, and take non-figurative abstraction beyond the Modernist/formalist dichotomy?

Perceptions of abstraction are not precise and raise many questions. How should the audience read or perceive the work? If it has no narrative, how does one ‘enter’ the work? What is it ‘about’? How can it be judged, and when is a work complete, or to use a term that is used by artists, ‘working’? Why do artists move away from representation as a way of interpreting or recording? One has to look, but for what and at what?

Certainly all visual art is representational in that it refers to something, even if it is a covert reference. Abstraction is an alternative to the representation of ‘things’ per se; nevertheless Nickas (Nickas, 2009 P5) feels that every painted picture ‘is representational because every painting is ultimately a representation of space.’ Abstraction can acknowledge or represent its precedents, its series, its concept or inspiration and its materials. Process has had a major role in the development of art in the Twentieth Century, as the idea of what could be construed as beauty shifted to embrace inherent materiality as against the idea of beauty being an object or depiction. (Eco and McEwen 2004 P402) The richness of methods and interpretation plus abstraction’s ability to communicate a broad range of aesthetic emotions ensures its

relevance.In conclusion, there can be little doubt that abstraction in all of its forms is

continuing to be explored in the early decades of the Twenty First Century, despite its marginalisation. The concept of abstraction has fractured into many activities, from the figurative/abstract explorations to the expressionistic gestural, the

Wendy Kelly, Grey Page 2009 mixed technique on canvas 91.5 x 91.5 cm

Trevor Vickers, De Lacy Study 2008 acrylic on canvas 122 x 152.5 cm

Wendy Kelly, Weavers Light 2010 mixed technique on canvas 167.6 x 243.7 cm

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digital, the geometric, the minimal, the monochrome, and the reductive. It continues to be a visual language that is being investigated and has not lost its emotive edge or its ability to communicate.

I have considered aspects of the current artistic environs such as the rapidity of interpretive criticism, both of a positive nature and of the negative view point, and the impact of postmodernist theory. The return by a number of artists to the more traditional materials has not limited interpretation of either the medium or method, but has interpreted abstraction in ways that differ to the formalist tenet of Greenberg. Abstraction has aligned itself more with the tradition of painting and less with radical political or social reaction.

A brief survey of the work done over the recent past demonstrates the way abstraction is being addressed. For some, questioning continues concerning the use of the figurative within an abstract ground. For others, the use of gesture, or its seeming counter geometry, grid and pattern, forms the basis of their questioning. The use of colour, and its counter the monochrome is evident, and a referencing of the concept continues

as an issue. Processes are complex and effect the way both the surface and the materials are interpreted.

The role of the pure and the impure continues to be addressed. The work of Cebokli could be seen as being purist in approach, whereas Frank’s work could be seen as having a material impurity. The broad range of concerns within abstract concepts and processes that artists both in Australia and overseas have approached and interpreted, ironically are as pluralist and referential as the postmodernist philosophy of plurality could ever be construed. Thus, could abstraction, impacted as it has been by Postmodernist developments, be included within some of the areas of Postmodernist thought, rather than suffering marginalisation?

The concern here has been to create a picture of the many people and almost as many interpretations that are occurring within the area of abstraction contemporaneously, and to demonstrate the commitment and energy inherently felt. I feel that there is a passionate sense of vitality and involvement amongst

Wendy Kelly, Dictionary Series, 2008 mixed technique on canvas nine panels each panel 30 x 30 cm

Wendy Kelly, Indigo Composite 2009 mixed technique on canvas 168 x 121.5 cm

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these artists, both established and emerging and cognisant though they are to both the problems of the past and the perceived marginalisation of the present, they continue to question and develop the oeuvre.

My thanks to all the artists who have given me permission to reproduce their works, and particularly to Charles Nodrum of Charles Nodrum Gallery Melbourne for being so generous with his time assisting in this research.

References listBann, S., 2007. Ways around Modernism, Theories of Modernism and

Postmodernismin the Visual Arts: 2. London: Routledge.Cheetham, M. A., 2006. Abstract Art against Autonomy: Infection, Resistance

and Cure since the 60s. Cambridge [England]; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Eco, U and McEwen, A., 2004. On Beauty. London: Secker and Warburg.Fineburg, J.D., 2000. Art since 1940: Strategies of Being. 2nd Ed., London:

Laurence King.Heartney, E., 2008. Art and Today. London; New York: Phaidon PressHelfenstein, J. and Fineburg, J.D. 2002. Drawings of Choice from the New York

Collection. Illinois: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.Innes, C., Bradley, F. and Mclean, E., 2006. Callum Innes: [from Memory]

Exhibition catalogue: Osftildern: Hatje CanzMcCulloch, A., McCulloch Childs, E. and McCulloch, C., 2006. The New

McCulloch’s Encyclopaedia of Australian Art. 4th Ed. Fitzroy, Vic.: Aus Art Editions in association with Miegunyah Press.

Kidd, Cortney in Murray Cree, Laura and Drury, Nevill Ed. 2000. Australian Painting Now. Sydney: Craftsman House

Nickas, B. O. B., 2009. Painting Abstraction: New Elements in Abstract Painting. Oxford: Phaidon.

Pincus Witten, R., 1987 Postminimalism into Minimalism. New York: PhadionRyan, D., Ed., 2002. Talking Painting: Dialogue with Twelve Abstract Painters.

London; New York, NY: Routledge.Schwabsky, B. and Adts, T., 2002. Vitamin P: New Perspectives in Painting.

London: Phaidon.Siedner, D., 1999. Artists’ Studios. Paris, France: Thames and HudsonWeihanger, R., 2001. DaimlerChrysler: Minimalism and After: Traditions and

Tendencies of Minimalism from 1950 to the present. Ostfildern Maidstone: Hatje Canz.

The photographer for images 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 14, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, and 27, Gavin Hansford

The photographs of images 3, 4, 11 and 16 were taken by the artist. Other photographers not known.