Dick Wray

Colorful Linear Abstract Crow

1973

Roland Ayers (1932-2017). Untitled, 1983. Ink on paper, measures 17 x 23 inches. Unframed and unmounted. Signed and dated lower left. Ayers holds the distinction of having participated in the first important survey of African-Americans, Contemporary Black Artists in America, a 1971 show at The Whitney. Biography: Artist and art educator, Roland Ayers was born on July 2, 1932, the only child of Alice and Lorenzo Ayers, and grew up in the Germantown district of Philadelphia. Ayers served in the US Army (stationed in Germany) before studying at the Philadelphia College of Art (currently University of the Arts). He graduated with a BFA in Art Education, 1954. He traveled Europe 1966-67, spending time in Amsterdam and Greece in particular. During this period, he drifted away from painting to focus on linear figurative drawings of a surreal nature. His return home inaugurated the artist’s most prolific and inspired period (1968-1975). Shorty before his second major trip abroad in 1971-72 to West Africa, Ayers began to focus on African themes, and African American figures populated his work almost exclusively. In spite of Ayers’ travel and exploration of the world, he gravitated back to his beloved Germantown, a place he endowed with mythological qualities in his work and literature. His auto-biographical writing focuses on the importance of place during his childhood. Ayers’ journals meticulously document the ethnic and cultural make-up of Germantown, and tell a compelling story of class marginalization that brought together poor families despite racial differences. The distinctive look and design of Germantown inform Ayers’ visual vocabulary. It is a setting with distinctive Gothic Revival architecture and haunting natural beauty. These characteristics are translated and recur in the artist’s imagery. During his childhood, one of the only books in the Ayers household was an illustrated Bible. The images within had a profound effect on the themes and subjects that would appear in his adult work. Figures in an Ayers’ drawing often seem trapped in a narrative of loss and redemption. Powerful women loom large in the drawings: they suggest the female role models his journals record in early life. The drawings can sometimes convey a strong sense of conflict, and at other times, harmony. Nature and architecture seem to have an antagonistic relationship that is, ironically, symbiotic. A critical turning point in the artist’s career came in 1971 when he was included in the extremely controversial Whitney Museum show, Contemporary Black Artists in America. The exhibition gave Ayers an international audience and served as a calling card for introductions he would soon make in Europe. Ayers is a particularly compelling figure in a period when black artists struggled with the idea of authenticity. A questioned often asked was “Is your work too black, or not black enough?” Abstractionists were considered by some peers to be sell-outs, frauds or worse. Figurative* work was accused of being either sentimental or politically radical depending on the critical source. Ayers made the choice early on to be a figurative artist, but considered his work devoid of political content. Organizations such as Chicago’ s Afri-Cobra in the late 1960‘s asserted that the only true black art of any relevance must depict the black man and woman...

Oil

Colorful Hard Edge painting by an unknown artist. Possibly created by Canadian artist, Brian Fisher. This painting was purchased from an estate in Seattle, Washington in the early ...

From a fabric of lines, surfaces, shapes and structures, balanced by matte and bright colors, the artist creates landscapes, fauna and flora, motifs of animate and inanimate nature. ...

Allen Kubach (American) "Untitled: Multicolored Linear Abstract" , Acrylic on Canvas, Signed on rear canvas, Early 21th Century, 2005 Colors: Yellow, Orange, Red, Green, Blue Allen Kubach and Marjorie Shaw Kubach were two married artists who explored their artistic styles together throughout their careers. The artists showed their works largely throughout New Jersey and New York, sometimes joining together for the same exhibits. The works that Detour Gallery has acquired are representative of the pair’s time in which they explored abstraction. These works were made in a postwar era, following the art world’s shifted focus on New York as the center for new modern art. Art at this time was evolving, and the experimentation of abstract expressionism, geometric abstraction, and minimalism evidently paved the path for later artists such as Allen and Marjorie. As noted in the New York Times by Vivian Reynor, Allen Kubach “specializes in strong colors, expressing them in vertical and diagonal grids laid one on top of another.” In such a manner, Allan reflects these contemporary ideals that were taking New York by storm in the 1960’s and 70’s. The linear focus and non objective use of color found in Allen’s work correlates to that of the pioneers of abstract and minimalistic work such as Sol Le Witt...

Bright sunshine yellow abstract painting with black streaks and blue splatters, by artist Charles Bouille´, 1995. Displayed in a white mat with a gold border and fits a standard-size...

Artist Commentary: The language of form and color, the tools of abstract painting provide unlimited potential to express poetic ideas. Often a visual idea can have its roots in an a...

This abstract artwork is a vivid tapestry of chaotic elegance, characterized by its dynamic interplay of colors and textures. Dominated by bold red and vibrant green, it punctuates t...

John Platt is a Brooklyn artist who studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and has exhibited extensively in New York. This abstract multi colored, whimsical painting is a prime e...

Sloyer Untitled, 1976 Oil on canvas 36 1/4 x 24 x 1 3/8 in. Artist label verso (text slightly obscured) Signed on stretcher bar