MAY 2020-THE ART OF ABSTRACTION

MAY 2020 – THE ART OF ABSTRACTION

“I don’t get it.”….”Oh what a sublime distillation”……“Good grief…a child could do that” …. Abstract art certainly provokes reactions, just not always positive!

There are many pieces that I love, but I have to confess to struggling with some works. Tapies and Twombly leave me cold, yet others drool over them. In fact thinking about it, some of the pieces look like the artists drooled over them!

Quattro Stagioni: Estate 1993-5 Cy Twombly

The Tate Modern Gallery Glossary tells us;

“Strictly speaking, the word abstract means to separate or withdraw something from something else. The term can be applied to art that is based on an object, figure or landscape, where forms have been simplified or schematised. It is also applied to art that uses forms, such as geometric shapes or gestural marks, which have no source at all in an external visual reality.”

I guess that’s why an abstract painting was my go-to choice to tackle the essence of the very complex landscape at the Janubio Saltflats in Lanzarote.

Salinas de Janubio, Lanzarote

As you approach the area from the east, the road takes you above the salt pans. They spread out before you like a tapestry in a range of colours depending on which plants (reds, greens, yellows)….

Section of Salinas de Janubio 1

…volcanic soils(blacks, ochres) ….

….water(greys, greens,blues)….

….or salt(whites, creams, pinks) are dominant in each pan.

The patchwork of quadrilateral pans has been stitched together with black volcanic rocks.

Old salt pans, Janubio

Section of Janubio 1

Within this area there is a lagoon, inhabited by various birds including ruddy shellduck, which seem to be made from a concentration of colours from this landscape.

Ruddy shelduck and black-winged stilt in this photo if you look hard!

At the sides of the lagoon are ruins of old pumping windmills and machinery which all have their own quirky personalities and seem to hold the spirit of old Janubio workers in their tired planks and cogs.

A page from my sketchbook

Then just before your eyes meet the sea and horizon, there is the black sand beach, backed by black lava boulders which meet an ochre soil, ground from other volcanic rock. The beach is a place for treasure hunters as a keen eye will find olivine (peridot) amongst the rocks and sand.

Olivine Treasure Trove

Then finally there is the dark, dark sea. Often moody, wind whipped but with the most dazzling blue where the aereated waves crescendo and crash on the rocks.