In my view, non-objective and abstract art have a special role in describing non-Newtonian reality—a reality in which our five senses are of little use.
Presenting over 70 paintings and prints by American and European painters, this exhibition highlights the ways in which early-and-mid-twentieth century painters explored color, elevating it to a subject matter in its own right. The works on view, including Al Held's Black Circle (1963), are drawn from the Kemp Collection and the Kunstpalast Collection. Curated by Anna Grosche and Felicity Korn.
Al Held's striking Bruges II (1981) is currently on view at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. The painting is part of “In the Making: Contemporary Art,” along with other works from the SBMA’s permanent collection by Gisela Colón, York Chang, Elliott Hundley, and Sean Scully, among others.
Bringing together more than ninety works spanning six decades, Electric Op examines how artists have used abstraction to explore the relationship between perception and technology. Curated by Tina Rivers Ryan, the show convincingly makes the case for Op art as the first artistic movement of the Information Age, paving the way for art to be abstracted into analog and digital circuits. Jimmy's Painting (1972), seen here, and Piero's Piazza (1982) are the two Held paintings in the show, largely drawn from the museum's permanent collection. Although computers played no part in the development of his imagery, Held's work anticipated contemporary concerns with its visualization of spatial complexity and contradiction. The exhibition travels to the Musée d'arts de Nantes, where it will be on view from April 4 to September 1, 2025.