Kenneth Noland, Mysteries: Maine Painting, 2000, Oil on canvas, Casterline | Goodman Galleries. Click to inquire.
In conjunction with the start of the school year, this post visually looks back to basic geometry-primarily the circle- and its incorporation in artworks throughout history.
Under mathematical scrutiny, the circle is scholastically valued for its circumference, but put to the rigors of art history it holds more mystical-rather than mathematical-powers.
Jessie Laino, T_01, 2016, Tire, white paint and resin, LnS Gallery. Click to inquire.
The circle has been regenerated throughout art history: incorporated in Renaissance canvases, its perfect shape as symbolic of divinity-such as the circular framing of Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo. Today, minimalism has claimed the circle, and highlights the shape as a subject itself, rather than a frame.
Dan Christensen, Thanos, 1990, Acrylic on canvas, Sponder Gallery. Click to inquire.
This strain of circle fanaticism is seen in FADA’s inventory. Dan Christensen’s Thanos, in the inventory of FADA newest member Sponder Gallery, highlights the mystical characteristics of the circle. The canvas’s display of reverberating circles highlights the potential of the shape’s hypnosis, and showcases the power of even the most elementary of shapes.
Fletcher Benton, Spring It #25, 2011, Tasende Gallery. Click to inquire.