thin ice

New York, New York, New York, New York

Tempera, encre et collage sur photographie 30 x 24 cm

Click photo for the realness.

Clyfford Still had begun working in the format that he would intensify and refine throughout the rest of his career—a large-scale color field crudely applied with palette knives. Still liberated color from illusionary design by allowing large, uninterrupted tonal areas to interlock on a flat plane. He dispensed with typically “beautiful” colors in favor of more disquieting hues to create unsettling impressions. In 1948, visceral smears of brown, mustard, and dark crimson impasto seem to spread beyond the canvas. The painting’s soaring scale and the energy of the roughly painted crags suggest the boundlessness the artist revered. The patches of earth tones in many canvases, including 1948, have been interpreted as organic shapes: parched riverbeds, frozen wastelands, swamps, and even flayed skin. Wishing to avoid the possibility of such associations, Still left his paintings untitled, or identified them simply by the year of their creation. Evocative titles, in the artist’s opinion, might influence the viewer’s experience as they contemplate the palpable tension and sense of the infinite that can be found within the canvas.

1948-C - Clyfford Still, 1948

1950-A No. 2 - Clyfford Still, 1950

1956-D - Clyfford Still, 1956

Untitled - Clyfford Still, 1956

Untitled - Clyfford Still, 1957

Forever and always. The first major artist whose work I'd acquire if I had the $$$ (and if anyone ever sold his work, which is like, never)

This is happening at my bar on Sunday. I'm super excited about it, and the authors they have lined up to do some readings. Please come by.

Hey Helen, remember when we watched this and couldn't sleep for a week?

The Honeymoon Killers (1970)

Damn straight.