Abstract expressionism at the MET
Debbie Apsan
IDC 9125
In sociology there is a lesson about social deviants. These people are observed to have been acting differently from the norms of society. They are labeled “deviants” and after having been thrown out of “normal” society, form their own. Once this newly formed society becomes larger, the deviants start to gain political power, and eventually become accepted in society. This story is also true about abstract artists that emerged around the 1940’s. These artists strayed from the accepted path of classic art, and although their artwork was not embraced right away, it certainly, after time, became a new genre of art known as “abstract expressionism”. Interestingly, as the years continued, the paintings had more abstract figures, and soon just looked modern with no figures to begin with. It is up to the audience to discover the meaning behind the paintings.
I would like to discuss three paintings that caught my eye. The first one is a painting by William de Kooning from 1949, called, “the attic”. This painting started off colorful and then, after being painted over and over again, became a black and white picture. Embedded in the painting are pictures that although hard, are distinguishable, and tell their own story.
As I continued to walk around the exhibit, my eyes fell upon a very attractive sculpture. It struck me because it was different; it was a piece of artwork that resembled exactly what it was called. The artwork I am referring to is Roszak’s “Firebird” from the early 1940’s. It is a very attractive piece of artwork that looks as if it was wired together.
The exhibit followed a timeline, and all of sudden, my eyes fell upon a painting that took over half the exhibit, or so it seemed. It was a modern painting, from the 1960’s, painted by Moris Louis. The painting was a clean beige background, with rainbow stripes diagonally coming down in each of the corners. When just looking at the painting, the talent needed was not explicit. But with further research I discovered that the artist started off with a white canvas, and painted the background beige, so smoothly, without any flaws. In addition, the artist painted the rainbow lines with liquid paint, and still managed to sketch straight linens.
These deviants have emerged, and they truly deserve to gain power in the art world. They have introduced a new concept, and the world has adjusted well, and continues to praise these works of “abstract expressionism”.