Bold Expressions: Geometric Abstractions from the Collection

Beverly Fishman

United States, born 1955

Untitled (Missing Doses, 3 Opioid Addiction, 1 ADHD),

2018

Urethane paint on wood

42 ½ x 40 ½ in. diameter

Weatherspoon Art Museum. Museum purchase with funds Image courtesy of the artist and Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY.from the Lynn Richardson Prickett Acquisition Endowment and the Burlington Industries Endowment, 2019

Untitled (Missing Doses, 3 Opioid Addiction, 1 ADHD)’s title and formal elements relate to the pharmaceutical industry. The wood surfaces are milled according to the shapes of different pills, complete with their scored indentations for splitting doses. These forms are then assembled together to create wholly new shapes. Fishman assigns the panels vibrant colors applied in eye-popping high-finish automotive enamel, so bright in fact, that the hues are reflected on the gallery wall. Although the artist recognizes that medications can help people tremendously, Fishman is concerned with our cultural desire for quick fixes. She is wary of the marketing of prescription drugs and the ease with which they are obtained—especially in the context of the current opioid crisis.

Charles Green Shaw

United States, 1892-1974

Polygon,

1937

Oil on wood panel

36 ¼ x 22 ¼ in.

Weatherspoon Art Museum. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert S. Falk, Sr., 1973

This painting exhibits a wildly unconventional shape for its time. Its stepped-back contours and reductive vertical geometry suggest New York City’s then-emerging skyline. The painting as a whole effectively and summarily interprets one of America’s key icons—the skyscraper—with little detail or sense of depth.

Jerry Walden

United States, 1941-2019

Studies 061418, 061118, 032718,

2018

Acrylic on gessoed Rives BFK paper

4 x 4 in.,4 x 4 in., 10 x 10 in.

Weatherspoon Art Museum. Gift of the artist and Robert Henry Contemporary to the Dillard Collection, 2019

Jerry Walden employed a reductive, hard-edged language to create his geometric compositions. Although the drawings appear well planned and rationally arranged on the paper, the artist built his compositions through a combination of random choices and aesthetic reactions to previous decisions. At times he chose to counter the flatness of the picture plane through the choice and placement of color.

Carrie Moyer

United States, born 1960

Tickler,

2012

Acrylic and glitter on canvas

40 x 28 in.

Weatherspoon Art Museum. Benefactors Choice Purchase, 2017

Carrie Moyer merges figure and ground in her paintings. Her compositions are suggestive of natural forms, microscopic information, and sea life, among other interpretations. The paintings are elegant and intricately constructed, with multiple choreographed layers of poured acrylic. They draw viewers in and reward them with the visual pleasures of infused light, rich color, and often, glitter. As a feminist, Moyer addresses the familiar language of Abstract Expressionism and questions the authority of the “male gesture,” reinventing it for her own purposes.

Robert Goodnough

United States, 1917-2010

Circle Z,

1963

Oil on canvas

80 x 80 in.

Weatherspoon Art Museum. Museum purchase with funds from Burlington Industries, 1965

In Circle Z Robert Goodnough applied patches and strokes of paint to suggest concentrated energy. The grid-like composition and color scheme indicate the influence of earlier artists and movements like Piet Mondrian, Henri Matisse, and Synthetic Cubism, while the shaped canvas—a form that began to be used more widely beginning in the 1960s—counters any sense of illusionism and serves as a hybrid of both painting and sculpture.