Gallery Alpha
Tribal Dynamics
Geometric Expressionism Rainforests of the Mind Fertility Rites Fantastic Visions Head, Hunter, Simpson
       

 
GEOMETRIC EXPRESSIONISM
April 18-May 25, 1991
 
 Chris Blades / Max Banbury / Ron Falcioni / Jas. W. Felter
Leo Labelle / Frank Lambert / Gordon Payne / Gregg Simpson
 
Works by Jas W. Felter and Gregg Simpson

                                                                 Geometric Expressionism celebrates the intuitive and personal aspects of works in the tradition of
                                                                 non-objective, hard-edge geometric painting. Since the public furore over the National Gallery's purchase of Barnett Newman's
                                                                 Voice of Fire
in 1990, formalist art  has come under attack, perhaps because its appreciation requires an awareness of the roots of
                                                                 abstraction. The exhibition at the Gallery Alpha confronts these questions with a selection of work by artists who draw upon a variety
                                                                 of sources from indigenous art and pre-historic designs to futuristic patternings and illusionism.

Mixed media canvases by Frank Lambert

                                                                    The roots of geometric expressionism (a term coined by contributing artist Jas. Felter) reach back to early abstractionists such as
                                                                    Wassily Kandinsky and Frank Kupka who pioneered improvisation with pure colours and shapes. Both artists also drew on their
                                                                    metaphysical knowledge and became transitional figures from Symbolism to abstraction, painters who could provide a
                                                                    theoretical and philosophic structure to their abstractions.

Works by Gordon Payne-lt.; Max Banbury-rt.

                                                                         In Geometric Expressionism, the link with the metaphysical is reflected in each artist's personal interpretation of the
                                                                         traditions of geometric abstraction. As a result, their work provides a more animated, less cerebral alternative to the
                                                                        minimalism often associated  with geometric art.


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Gallery Alpha
Tribal Dynamics
Geometric Expressionism Rainforests of the Mind Fertility Rites Fantastic Visions Head, Hunter, Simpson