Inspiration :: Abstract Expressionism & Color Field Paintings

I wish I knew how to talk more eloquently about art. I’ve always envied people who can tie movements into culture and history and the world at large, who know that the Renaissance begat Mannerism, that Cubism preceded Surrealism, and why Diego Velázquez is considered a pioneer of modern art. I enjoy looking at paintings immensely, and thinking about art in general, but I often wonder if I’m missing something more. I wish I better understood why Picasso called Cézanne, “the father of us all.” I wish I knew more about the Russian Itinerants. And I wish I knew whatever Mannerism is.

But I also don’t think you need to know about these things to be inspired by them. And I think you need to explore inspiration in unexpected places. Otherwise, you’re doing little more than treading water.

I used to dismiss abstract art wholesale. I didn’t understand it, and it was easier for my young mind to reject it rather than try to wrap my head around it, or learn about why it might be important in a grander context, and by proxy become more engaged with it. Dismissal is often the path of least resistance. It takes less work, and for a long time I didn’t think you should work to be inspired.

But I don’t think that way anymore.

When I started really looking at abstract expressionism and everything it encompassed, I began to see elements of it in my own photography, bubbling under the surface. I wondered if it had always been there. I became enthralled with the color variations in Helen Frankenthaler’s work, the poetry in a painting like Off White Square. I was inspired by the starkness of Franz Kline’s brush strokes, and by the harmonic chaos of Joan Mitchell. I even began to see a kind of goodness in Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles. I could finally appreciate the celestial qualities of Rothko’s color fields.

None of this means I’m trying to create abstract photography, but I do wonder how I can ground these ideas in my own work. I think there’s a lot to learn from these artists in terms of color, form, and emotion. And these artists and many others remind me to take risks and to continue looking for beauty and understanding in unexpected places. And to maybe, at some point, look up whatever Mannerism is.