#transcendental painting group

[jareckiworld]

Ed Garman (1914-2004) — Painting No. 231 [oil on panel, 1941]

[4eternal-life]

Raymond Jonson  (American,  1891- 1982)

Space For Vera  (Watercolor No. 7)  1942 watercolor on paper,  22" x 30"

© Peyton Wright Gallery

[ineffectualdemon]

I wouldn't wish anyone to see and/or feel the monsters, or feel the dread and paranoia I experience, or the fear of not knowing who or where you are

But I wish I could have people experience the moments where things sparkle and I know that I am special and loved and one with the universe in a way beyond human understanding

Or when hearing a bird song becomes a transcendental experience

Or the wonder of knowing you are in a different plane of existence but instead of fear you are filled with awe

I wish I could share the relief and contentment that comes with having your own group of friends and colleagues at all times that you can consult when things are difficult in your shared life. Even when you don't always get on

I wish I could share the hilarity when the voices say something utterly random and ridiculous

Mental illness and dissociation, derealization, and delusions are always painted as scary and bad and awful but they aren't always

People experiment with drugs to get experiences I get for free

I'm not saying my mental illness doesn't negatively impact my life. It really does and can be dangerous

But its also not just awful

Sometimes it funny or enjoyable or even pleasant

And I don't think that's understandable if you haven't experienced it but I wanted to say it

[longlistshort]

Lucas Arruda’s paintings for Assum Preto at David Zwirner capture moments in time that beckon you to look closer. On his Instagram is a photo of Agnes Varda with a quote that reads “If we opened people up, we’d find landscapes”. Standing in front of these paintings allows the viewer to contemplate Arruda’s inner landscapes as well as their own.

From the gallery-

“Assum Preto” continues Arruda’s investigations into the painted medium and its ability to serve as an evocative and transcendental conduit for the unveiling of light, memory, and emotion. The exhibition is titled after a species of blackbird native to eastern Brazil—whose mundane birdsong, according to local tradition, is said to transform into a beautiful melody if the bird’s eyesight has been shaded. As the artist explains: “It’s as if, when the bird has everything in sight, and is full of information and distractions, it can’t organize itself. Only when it’s no longer surrounded by images, can it organize everything in its head. In a certain way, I think this has to do with light.… For me, light is related to remembering.” In the works on view, light takes on a multitude of forms, surfacing in various physical, ideographical, and affective manifestations.

The exhibition is primarily composed of new paintings from Arruda’s established body of seascapes, junglescapes, and abstract monochromes; together, these works bring about a complex understanding of landscape as a product of a state of mind rather than a depiction of reality. The works on view are notable for their fogged colors—exploring subtle but intricate variations within a single hue—that range from dense reds to ethereal and almost intangible veils of white. For the monochromes, Arruda adds layer upon layer of pigment to pre-dyed raw canvas in an attempt to replicate its tinted hue in paint, methodically returning to each work for weeks or even months on end until the composition slowly builds into a hazy and ever-shifting wall of light.

The seascapes and junglescapes, on the other hand, are made on prepared surfaces using a reductive process whereby the impression of light is attained through the subtraction of pigment. Devoid of specific reference points, Arruda’s seascapes are all grounded only by their thin horizon lines. Above and below this border, charged atmospheric conditions engage further dichotomies between sky and earth, the nebulous and the solid, the psychic and the visual. The jungles, by contrast, dwell in verticality; their genesis lies in the artist’s formative memories of the verdant foliage outside his bedroom window. For Arruda, the quasi-mythical scenery of the Brazilian rainforest coaxes out tensions between reality and human imagination. Towering and impenetrable, yet containing a sense of the infinite that surpasses its physical bounds, in Arruda’s work the jungle becomes a site of power and enlightenment as much as it is a harbinger of darkness and uncertainty—a place where one can be lost to the world and find themselves again.

As curator Lilian Tone writes: “[Arruda’s] paintings suggest a tenuous, fugitive, and mediated relation to nature as that which informs an aesthetic language. As viewers, we tend to make sense of the slightest mark within an open field, to immediately perceive a horizontal line as a horizon line, to create clouds from a change in direction of brushstrokes, and to perceive ground from a thick impasto. Arruda makes paintings we experience as at once beyond abstraction and yet before representation.”

In “Assum Preto”, Arruda debuts a group of small-scale, semi-abstract paintings that are constructed from a lexicon of symbolist motifs, marking a new turn in the artist’s practice while also harking back to the planar and architectonic forms that characterize his early oeuvre. In these works, he takes visual cues from the geometries and rich colorscapes found in the Brazilian modernist paintings of José Pancetti (1902–1958), Alfredo Volpi (1896–1988), and Amadeo Luciano Lorenzato (1900–1995). Arruda handles his brush lightly but with intense control, creating clouds and thickets of markings that delicately carve through the painted surface of the canvas in a manner recalling the textures and physicality of intaglio printmaking processes. Potent and open-ended, the symbols and motifs that populate these compositions—darkly brewing storms, empty canoes, and strings of outdoor lights—visualize the themes that permeate Arruda’s body of paintings, including the artist’s own dreams, experiences, and intuitions, through the lens of the sacred and the surreal. The images shift in and out of focus, as if hovering at the precipice of memory itself.

Additionally featured is an example of Arruda’s site-specific light installations. These works comprise a pair of vertically balanced rectangles rendered directly on the gallery wall—the top one created through a light projection and the bottom one physically applied with paint—thus translating the genre of landscape into its most elemental form.

This exhibition closes 6/15/24.

[kimberly-balla]

[calvinpo]

An exhibition/pavilion review:

Ringing Hollow: A Review of Black Chapel, the 2022 Serpentine Pavilion

Calvin Po

It’s perhaps an unfortunate coincidence that on my way to this year’s Serpentine Pavilion, Black Chapel, designed by Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates, I had a rather more spiritual experience when I passed by a group of street preachers on the square next to Speaker's Corner. With their Union Jack bunting draped all around their assembly, placards with JESUS IS LORD, large banners of the English flag adorned a patriotic lion and names of the all the London boroughs proudly proclaiming LONDON SHALL BE SAVED. Puncturing through even my atheistic, bemused scepticism, the blaring music and odd bursts of song had a patriotic, messianic energy that was electric. By the time I got to the Chapel I came to see, it had simply been upstaged.

Pavilions have often mattered more for the reason they are built, than the actual functions they house. From completing the composition of a Picturesque landscape, to Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion itself becoming a manifesto, the purpose of pavilions often exists beyond the building itself. In the case of the Serpentine Pavilion, it is more about the annual cycle of patronage by the London cultural elite as they pat the “emerging architect” of the year on the back. So I was intrigued when Gates claimed a loftier, more sacred ambition of creating a ‘Chapel’, a “sanctuary for reflection, refuge and conviviality”, for “contemplation and convening”, on top of the usual purpose as a place to sit and buy an expensive coffee.

The pavilion’s imposing 10.7m high cylindrical form, clad in all-black timber has an immediate presence as I approach. Gates claims the form references inspirations as eclectic as “Musgum mud huts of Cameroon, the Kasubi Tombs of Kampala, Uganda [...] the sacred forms of Hungarian round churches and the ring shouts, voodoo circles and roda de capoeira witnessed in the sacred practices of the African diaspora.” Perhaps the subtlety of these references is lost on me, but the Pavilion mostly evokes an industrial structure, like a water tank or gasometer, especially with its external ridges of timber battens  and internal ribs of timber and metal composite trusses. Yet despite the grand gesture of an open oculus in the roof, letting light into the inky, voluminous interior, it fails to move me in that transcendental way that even a modest place of worship can. 

Is it perhaps the quality of the execution? Serpentine Pavilions are often put together on hasty timescales, with six months from conception to completion. Little details give this away: boards of the decking and cladding not quite lining up, the black-stained timber a bargain basement imitation of yakisugi (Japanese technique of timber charring). Perhaps this can be forgiven of a non-permanent structure: in a nod to sustainability credentials, this year the designers have taken care to ensure the structure is demountable, down to the reusable, precast concrete foundations. But seeing that the Pavilions are almost always auctioned off to recoup the costs and relocated to the grounds of private collectors and galleries, this seems more a convenient commercial expediency, than an environmental one. Perhaps it is difficult to be spiritually moved by a structure that is sold and delivered like a commodity, with little rootedness in its physical and congregational geographies. 

Or could it be the atmosphere, a lack of drama? One of Gate’s flourishes, such as his seven silvery ‘Tar Paintings’ that are suspended in the inside walls of the space like abstract icons, are a nod to his father’s trade as a roofer, and Rothko’s chapel in Houston. Yet these self-referential gestures seem lost on the throngs of sun-seeking Londoners taking brief shelter from the heat and wilted grass, with hardly anyone giving them a second glance. Most seemed more interested in the shade than symbolism. For a project that also emphasises “the sonic and the silent”, the acoustic atmosphere of the space I found wanting, perhaps because of the sound that leaks out of the two full-height openings that puncture straight through the volume: its acoustic experience had neither the reverberant, sanctified silence once expects from a chapel, nor the sonic presence that the street preachers managed to carve out of a busy corner of a London with just their vocal chords. Instead, all I heard was the low chatter of visitors going about their own business. The Pavilion is being programmed with “sonic interventions” (read: music performances), and the jury is out on whether or not the Pavilion can serve as a suitable venue for sounds with a more explicit, ceremonial intentionality.

But perhaps the coup de grâce was the decision to relocate a bell from St Laurence, a now-demolished Catholic Church from Chicago’s South Side. Sited next to the entrance, it is to be “used to call, signal and announce performances and activations at the Pavilion throughout the summer.” Gates explains this decision as a way to highlight the “erasure of spaces of convening and spiritual communion in urban communities.” But now mounted on a minimal, rusty steel frame like an objet d’art, I can’t help but feel a cruel irony that a consecrated object that once used to convene a lost community is now used as a performative affectation for the amusement of London’s arts and cultural gentry. This perhaps exemplifies a deeper ethical issue at the heart of the Pavilion’s concept: narratives of collective worship, cherry-picked from across communities and cultures, are sanitised, secularised and aestheticised in a contemporary art wrapper for the tastes of the largely godless culture crowd. The curator’s spiels of a creating “hallowed chamber”, if anything ring hollow.

As I leave Hyde Park, I pass by again the assembly of street preachers, who have now moved on to delivering a sermon. Gates said of his Pavilion, “it is intended to be humble.” Yet I can’t help but but feel how much more these preachers have achieved, with so much less.

[theandrea3000]

Another World: The Transcendental Painting Group, 1938–1945, LACMA, 2022

agnes lawrence pelton, memory, 1937

florence miller pierce sketches

raymond johnson(?)

florence miller pierce, the wave

[smiercczlowieka]

Julia Kowalska - Milky Blind Eye x Kravitz Contemporary / London, APR-MAY 2023

Artist: Julia Kowalska

In collaboration with Kravitz Contemporary, presents a solo exhibition of new works by Warsaw-based painter Julia Kowalska (b. 1998). Milky Blind Eye is Kowalska's first international solo exhibition Milky Blind Eye is Kowalska’s first international solo exhibition, and follows the artist’s participation in Kravitz’s group show Under the Jaguar Sun (Oct/Nov 22) and Death of Man’s presentation at Hotel Warszawa Art Fair (Nov 22). The exhibition is curated by Elain Tam White Cube exhibition coordinator and editor of FIELDNOTES. Full event description in discussion.

During the span of her undergraduate study at Warsaw’s Academy of Fine Arts, Julia Kowalska intensely interrogated the importance of figuration, that corporeal consideration currently so prevalent in the field of contemporary painting. Beginning by physically looking inward, she produced a series of sinuous almost biological abstractions that flayed the figure and exposed every gastroenteric, pulmonary or cardiovascular component that underpins our ongoing existence, all amalgamated into a mass of rich sanguine reds and putrid prurient pinks.

Now, however, in her latest paintings produced for ‘Milky Blind Eye’ and those displayed at her recent degree presentation, Kowalska applies a more transcendental approach to introspection. A spiritual soul-searching that, rather than using the body as an agent for abstraction, attempts to instead abstract the body from the figure itself.

[dreams-and-echoes]

The Flaming One by Emil James Bistram (c. 1964)

Bistram was one of the founders of the Transcendental Painting Group of New Mexico, a coalition of artists who sought to convey metaphysical and spiritual meanings through abstraction in art.

[jareckiworld]

Ed Garman (1914-2004) — Painting No. 441 [oil on board, 1954]

[cytocutie]

Half Steps — Jason Oliveira

Painting (oil), 49" x 25" x 1.25", 2022

Presented at The deYoung Open 2023 (ID #94)

Listed for $3000 *

Artist statement:

“Half Steps” invokes and transforms the graphic symbols of architecture and music to simultaneously partition and open a mystical space. Inspired by works of the Transcendental Painting Group that strike a balance of representation and abstraction, the energy of the piece moves upward from the mud, through containment, to ultimate freedom.

"Half Steps" is accompanied by a musical composition! You can listen to it on the artist's Instagram @/jason_oliveira_art . To see more of Jason Oliveira's work, visit jasonoliveira.com .

The deYoung Open is a triannual exhibition featuring artwork by California-Bay Area creators. The most recent exhibit was on display at The deYoung Museum in San Francisco from 09/30/2023 to 01/07/2024. To learn more and view a digital gallery of all 883 pieces that were featured, visit deyoungopen.artcall.org . And if you're an artist from Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, or Sonoma County, you should consider making a submission for 2026! Applications will probably go live in early June 2026, so you have some time to plan :)

I am not an affiliate of The deYoung Museum, Jason Oliveira, or any of the artists featured in The deYoung Open 2023. I'm just posting to celebrate some amazing CA artists. If you are the artist and would like me to take this post down or add additional credit, please message me on Tumblr.

* Listing price is shown on the deYoung Open website at time of writing. The artwork may no longer be available for sale.

[thunderboltfire]

@rayless-reblogs (hope You don't mind me using Your tags to ramble a bit about Polish art history again, haha)

Actually it's the other way around! The standing figure is Eloe, and the sleeping (dead) is Ellenai. The death of Ellenai seems to be one of the favourite topics of Malczewski, and he shows it on many different paintings. My favourite one (and also one that I've seen in the original) is this one:

but there's also one with a different composition:

Now, a little bit of backstory: all three paintings are illustrations to Juliusz Słowacki's poem Anhelli. I'll put some more context under the cut, because explaining what is going on here will take some time.

Juliusz Słowacki was one of the giants of Polish romantic literature. Poland at the time didn't exist as a political body. It was under partitions and Poles were under jusridiction of either Imperial Russia, Kingdom of Prussia or the Austro-Hungary. Language and literature was a significant factor in upholding the national identity, so romanticism, full of national sentiment, inventing the concept of artists as transcendental chosen ones worked perfectly with the existing sentiments, which made romantic poets hugely popular.

One of the characteristic points of Polish romanticism was its weird, mystical and borderline blasphemous usage of religious motives. As a heavily messianistic take on the Zeitgeist concept, the Polish romanticists saw the suffering and struggle of their nation as a way to redemption, that was supposed to culminate in a glorious resurrection of the country, in a way paralleling the figure of Christ. (Hugely megalomaniac, but what can you do.)

Anhelli is a long poem, stylised specifically to mimic biblical style. It describes the fate of a fictional group of Polish exiles, sent to Siberia as a punishment. Hugely pessimistic work, the light of hope is dim. Słowacki never was in Siberia - but he probably had accounts of people who served their time there. The most important part of it though, is symbolism, and the whole poem, as befits the style is heavily metaphysical.

The exile in Siberia is an only non-fantastical part of it: relocation was a very common type of punishment administered to the families deemed problematic by the Russian Empire - a lot of people involved in uprisings and their families were forcibly relocated to the complete unknown - in the best case, as settlers, in the worst case, as prisoners to work in the mines. Many of them died, unsuited to harsh climate and provided with very little resources. That's however, where the historical facts end, and the licencia poetica begin.

Słowacki shows the group of exiles in way reminescent to the chosen people in the Bible - they are led by a prophet (who's, somehow also an indigenous shaman - don't ask me why) wielding divine power. He leaves them to show his apprentice and successor the fate and suffering of different groups of exiles, which leads to the main group going astray with catastrophic cosequences. All in all, a pretty wild ride full of objectionable mysticism.

The man shown in the paintings of Ellenai's death is the eponymous Anhelli - the main character and the apprentice of the prophet, who accompanies him in his journey throughout the struggles of his people, shown as a set of mythical parables. In the end, when the exiles kill the prophet, he leaves them to live alone, accompanied only by a single woman, Ellenai.

Ellenai was originally sentenced to exile because of commiting murder, but throughout acts of mercy and faith she redeems herself. She's a sister figure to Anhelli, and the only company he has while living in solitude, but after some time she also dies, leaving him completely alone and awaiting his own death.

While dying, Ellenai pleads that Anhelli wouldn't forget her - as he's her only companion aside from reindeer she kept, and promises that her soul will visit their country again and will keep watch over his family. She dies while praying with the Loretan litany.

Something about the scene had to have moved Malczewski so much, he approached the topic multiple times. In both of the pictures Ellenai is usually shown surrounded with animal skins, in a dark place similar to a pit-house, with an icon of Virgin Mary above her bed - and it's a particular depiction from Częstochowa, often considered to be of a special meaning to Poland as a country. It points both to the nationality of the characters and the devotion of Ellenai to Virgin Mary. She's always shown relaxed, almost as if sleeping.

It's Anhelli who's different every time Malczewski paints him - and I think I like the first depiction the best. In the second one, he's shown struck by grief, but he's also stylised to be a typical nobleman, a lot older than her - more of a father figure than a brother. In the first one, his static, shocked and absent expression conveys his loneliness and conrasts his sorrow with her almost ethereal form. It's an amazing composition and I really like it.

But what about the first picture?

Eloe is described by Słowacki as a personification of death, the caretaker of graves. What's interesting, Malczewski saw that Słowacki described her as a herder of reindeer and he decided to dress her in clothes whose patterns seem to be loosely inspired by the indigenous clothing of nomadic reindeer herders. I don't know enough to ascertain whether or not he actually used actual siberian cultures' artifacts for reference, or if he just extrapolated on whatever he saw as fitting.

In the poem Eloe appears throughout the story - here she carries Ellenai's body to her resting place. The confusion over who's who is reinforced by the fact that in this scene Eloe is described as cradling Ellenai's dead body in her wings and here in order to showcase Eloe properly the wings assume a very weird, gravity-defying position. Malczewski was a symbolist, which is revealed by the fact he gave Eloe shackles to carry - they may symbolise the constraint that is death, but also they could signify herself being an exile among angels, similarly to Ellenai and Anhelli. Her other hand is touching Ellenai's fingers, in a very delicate, loving way. She is indeed shown as a figure of compassion and beauty, and death in romanticism's books is generally shown as nothing but mercy. Malczewski's fascination by death as a figure of mercy is also visible in his other works.

Jacek Malczewski - Eloe (1909)

[bashchocolate]

The Psychedelic Chocolate Revolution: Exploring Creative Uses and Potential

Psychedelic chocolate bars have been at the forefront of a revolution in recreational and therapeutic uses of psychedelics. Beyond their mind-altering effects, these bars open doors to new realms of creativity and exploration. In this article, we dive into the innovative ways people are using psychedelic chocolate bars and explore their potential in a variety of fields.

One of the key creative uses of psychedelic chocolate bars is in the realm of art and expression. Many artists report enhanced creativity and novel insights while under the influence of these bars. The altered state of consciousness induced by the psychoactive compounds can lead to unique perspectives, out-of-the-box thinking, and the ability to tap into deep creative reservoirs. Whether it's painting, writing, or composing music, psychedelic chocolate bars can be a powerful tool for inspiration and self-expression.

Psychedelic chocolate bars also find their place in the field of therapy and personal growth. The psychoactive compounds, such as psilocybin, have shown promising results in the treatment of mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and addiction. Integrating these substances into therapeutic settings allows for a deeper exploration of the self and can uncover underlying issues, traumas, and limiting beliefs. The combination of psychotherapy and the introspective effects of psychedelic chocolate bars can create profound healing experiences.

In addition to personal growth and therapy, psychedelic chocolate bars are being explored for spiritual and religious purposes. Many individuals report mystical or transcendental experiences while under the influence of psychedelics, including psychedelic chocolate bars. These experiences can lead to a sense of interconnectedness with the universe, spiritual insights, and a deeper understanding of the nature of reality Moon chocolate bars. Some religious and spiritual groups incorporate these bars into their rituals, using them as tools for communion with the divine.

The potential applications of psychedelic chocolate bars go beyond individual experiences and therapy. Researchers are exploring the use of these substances in scientific settings to enhance problem-solving, creativity, and innovation. The altered states of consciousness induced by psychedelics can lead to novel insights, breakthroughs, and expanded perspectives that can be valuable in a wide range of scientific endeavors.

Furthermore, psychedelic chocolate bars have the potential to shape the broader cultural narrative around psychedelics. As these bars become more mainstream, they contribute to the normalization and education of these substances. By offering a familiar and approachable way to experience psychedelics, they open the doors for more conversations and understanding about the potential benefits and responsible use of these substances.

In conclusion, the creative uses and potential of psychedelic chocolate bars have ushered in a new era of exploration, therapy, and inspiration. Whether it is in the domains of art, therapy, spirituality, or science, these mind-altering treats offer a unique and accessible way to tap into the potential of the mind. As research and acceptance continue to grow, the possibilities for psychedelic chocolate bars are seemingly boundless.

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[algal-flower-tower]

Things from the last week id like to refer back to, or just think r fun

Torre Velasca, Milan (1958) - building, architecture, modernist

Expect delays - glitch, sign

Big bug and my dog - hard to tell apart

Transcendental Painting Group works at the LACMA - Agnes Pelton, TPG

Magdalena Bay and Death Grips b2b nights

Society of the Spectacle - revolution, illusion

[tynatunis]

Je suis fan de la peinture transcendantale particulièrement Agnès Pelton #Repost @artsy Seeking to expand the boundaries of American art, a small bunch of like-minded artists came together in New Mexico in 1938 to form the Transcendental Painting Group (TPG). According to their original manifesto, the term “transcendental” best expressed their aim “to carry painting beyond the appearance of the physical world, through new concepts of space, color, light, and design, to imaginative realms that are idealistic and spiritual.” Currently on view at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) through June 19th, “Another World: The Transcendental Painting Group, 1938–1945” is the first major traveling museum exhibition dedicated to the work of these painters.⁠ •⁠ In Artsy Editorial, we highlight eight artists who belong to a new generation experimenting with light, color, shapes, and space in new and unexpected ways. Read on from Salomé Gómez-Upegui (@salomegomezu) through the link in our bio.⁠ •⁠ #ZoeMcGuire, Ultraviolet, 2022⁠ #JoaniTremblay, Untitled (Laurel Highlands), 2022⁠ #MollyGreene, Interference Study #4, 2022⁠ #InkaEssenhigh, Blue Mountain, 2022⁠ #AgnesPelton, Sand Storm, 1932 https://www.instagram.com/p/CpUDwLuoKsk/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[andreahamiltonblog]

The Transcendental Painting Group 

Frieze Los Angeles 2023 is here, and one of the highlights is the exhibition ‘Another World: The Transcendental Painting Group, 1938-1945’ at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The Transcendental Painting Group achieved their modernity through potently charged shapes, patterns, and archetypes that they believed dwelled in the “collective unconscious.” The artists looked to a wide variety of literary, religious, and philosophical forces, including Zen Buddhism, Theosophy, Agni Yoga, Carl Jung, and Friedrich Nietzsche. 

Convinced that an art capable of being intuitively understood would have equal validity to representational painting in an era of uncertainty, political divide, and fear, they attempted to promote abstraction that pursued enlightenment and spiritual illumination. According to their manifesto they strove “to carry painting beyond the appearance of the physical world, through new concepts of space, color, light and design, to imaginative realms that are idealistic and spiritual.”

The group, which came to include Agnes Pelton, Lawren Harris, Florence Miller Pierce, Horace Pierce, William Lumpkins and Dane Rudhyar, among others, followed the guidance of Raymond Jonson and Emil Bisttram, who were in turn heavily influenced by the colour theories of Wassily Kandinsky.

📷

1. Stuart Walker, Composition 55 (Convergence), 1938, Jean Pigozzi Collection

2. Agnes Pelton, Winter, 1933, Crocker Art Museum

3. Emil Bisttram, Oversoul, 1941, Private Collection