Subjectivity and geometrical abstraction

Explorations of subjectivity within the field of contemporary art can take many forms. Among the most promising at the moment are renderings of subjectivity that more or less incorporate the register of forms rooted in the archive of geometrical abstraction often associated with modernism. Now, that might sound a bit surprising. Usually we expect geometrical abstraction to go hand in hand with ideals such as rationality and objectivity. Nevertheless, geometrical arrangements of forms imputed with symbolic meanings focusing upon mental states and the lived subjects inner experiences are at least thinkable. Dense geometrical grids could for example refer to the subjects experiences of closings and, likewise, transparent geometrical structures could correlate to different states of openings. Just to say that it´s possible. Geometrical abstractions of subjectivity and the I´s mental acts are subjectivity dealt with in the geometrical manner. These subjective abstractions are perhaps the most interesting instances of More Geometrico around right now. And they are refreshingly new.

The beauty of diversity

Diversity is no doubt among the most important properties of works of art today. The juxtaposition of many different elements and the multiplicity and variety of forms in a given artwork might be said - at least at a symbolic level - to somehow echo the experience that living and being in a contemporary globalized world is a complex affair. I guess that one can say that diversity is probably the most true-to-life property in the 21st century and that beauty nowadays resides in the complex manifold lending itself to the synthetizing acts of the spectator. 

Besides that the inclusiveness of the complex artwork also seems to underline the primacy of an open mind towards different perspectives and ways of seeing. Inclusiveness could be said to correlate to a democratic state where everybody so to speak has a voice to be heard in the world - and metaphorically speaking also in the work.

Not to say that a complete unlimited and unorganized chaos of elements in the artwork is preferable. Properties like unity and coherence still have a worthy role to play. Compositional organization and aspirations to a more or less overall effect of unity and coherence at the narrative level serve as valuable constitutive spots in the artwork from where the spectator can join the interpretative play and engage in a free and celebratory creation of new meanings. But the basis of this fiesta - not only for the eye but also for the mind - is the beauty of diversity.

The 5th berlin biennial

Now that the 5th berlin biennial for contemporary art, When things cast no shadow, closed this weekend I think it´s time to notice that among the many interesting contributions to the biennial some of the works made by the female artists seemed to mark themselves as perhaps the most outstanding works shown at the biennial. The sculptures exhibited at the Neue Nationalgalerie by Goshka Macuga and Thea Djordjadze were definetly worth seeing with their neoconstructivist and/or neomodernist investigations of form while at the same time maintaining a narrative impulse. A somehow similar playing with constructivism and narration was also on view in Lili Reynaud-Dewar´s sculpture presented at the KW. These are three european female artists whose works are surely exciting to follow in the time to come.

Modernism and contemporary art

A renewed interest in modernism as seen in recent years within the field of contemporary art seems surely to be interesting. There are no doubt intriguing forms connected to modernism and a wide range of promising artistic possibilities to be explored and developed. Especially at a formal level modernism has indeed something to offer. What remains, however, is the challenge at the same time to register and reflect upon what modernism has excluded. Because modernism is also still the long and sad story of exclusions and marginalization. Femininity and the artistic renderings of the lived life experienced by the feminine I are issues foreign to modernism. Just to name an example. Contemporary dealings with modernism could take the exclusions of modernism as their starting point. Adopting the exclusion perspective on a fresh take on modernism could be an exiting way to go and result in genuinely new works and a wider and more inclusive conception of what modernism can be.

One of my works

Welcome to my blog! To begin with I would like to introduce one of my works below:

"With You I Wanna Go Where Peaceful Waters Flow, I", 2006. Gouache, pen and ink drawings, watercolour, chiffon, silk ribbons, wool ribbons, silk tassels, lace figure and acrylic on canvas. 156 x 234 cm. Collection Statens Museum for Kunst/The National Gallery, Copenhagen. 

The work is shown right now at the Statens Musem for Kunst, Sølvgade 48-50, 1307 Copenhagen K, in room 211 which is located in the red, old building where many of the museums contemporary artworks are presented.