Andrea Rosen Gallery is delighted to announce the next in a series of two-person exhibitions exploring Felix Gonzalez-Torres' affinities with other artists.
A selection of works on paper by Agnes Martin from the 1960's and three 'bloodwork' pieces by Felix Gonzalez-Torres are shown together for this third exhibition in the series. Although formally similar, the different intention of each artist explores the malleability of the Minimalist grid. This simple comparison highlights the similarities shared by these two bodies of work; a stark minimalist aesthetic with a distinctly hand-made mark and an assertive emotionality in the details.
Gonzalez-Torres employed the power of reductive form as a subversive strategy to convey emotion and engage politically charged subjects. Very much grounded in current events, Gonzalez-Torres utilized the tradition of minimalism as a cloak for the infusion of personal meaning and political content into what had become a formal convention. The ubiquity of minimal form was a perfect device for an artist who was eager to keep his work open-ended; inciting the viewer to complete the work by either interaction or interpretation.
Martin used the grid to look back and inward in the interests of being seen in the lineage of ancient art, as well as evoking her personal blend of spirituality.
I would like my work to be recognized as being in the classical tradition (Coptic, Egyptian, Greek, Chinese), as representing the ideal in the mind. Classical art cannot possibly be eclectic. One must see the ideal in one's own mind. It is like a memory - an awareness - of perfection.
- Agnes Martin