Navigating the unconscious

untitled landscape #1

Magdeburg hemispheres

090622

Flores

lb02x-23

“I never wanted color to be color. I never wanted texture to be texture, or images to become shapes. I wanted them all to fuse into a living spirit.” **(Clyfford Still)**


Abstract Expressionism is one of the defining art movements of the twentieth century. In the postwar era, painters and sculptors worked to establish a new aesthetic and visual language enabling them to express human emotions in a new and pure form. Working with a new-found physicality and sense of scale, artists like Lee Krasner, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, and Robert Motherwell introduced viewers to an innovative form of artistic expression.


But what happens when the physical becomes digital. When our eyes move away from the canvas and instead focus on the screen. To admire intimate details or take in the full grandeur of a work on canvas we used to move closer or take steps back. With the invention of pinch & zoom, we can now explore and acquaint ourselves with a work like never before.


What does this mean for abstraction in the Web3 era? Why do artists continue to push forward with this ever evolving language? Our relationships as creators and audience has evolved. Technology has provided a myriad of opportunities to converse and commune with art. In the hands of emerging artists, new methods of working have developed, but the desire to express and share remain the same.

I Don’t Know Why I Do It

The evolution of abstract art in the Web3 era.

Richard Chappelow

1 curator’s choice

I Don’t Know Why I Do It