Dan
Artist: Alvin Loving (American, 1935-2005)
Date: 1973
Dimensions:
H: 88 in. (223.5 cm); W: 104 in. (264.2 cm)
Medium: Acrylic on paper and cardboard
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: National Endowment for the Arts Museum Purchase Plan Program and matching funds from an anonymous donor
Object number: 1975.8
Label Text:When he rose to prominence in the 1960s, Detroit-born African American abstract artist Al Loving’s work was characterized by careful and calculated studies of pure geometric forms. The work on display here, Dan, was created at a pivotal turning point in his career—when Loving began to abandon his signature aesthetic in favor of more fluid, large-scale works, often composed through the layering of ripped and painted cardboard.
About his work during this period, Loving said, “I usually work on five or six pieces at a time, and usually I’m dealing with some particular question. What I’m doing now is dealing with shape and color. How do you deal with one and not destroy the other? …. for the first three or four days that I’m working on something, I know that none of this is going to be visible when it’s finished. Then I reach the point where the real question of why I painted this particular picture arises. That’s the part I like; it concerns the final placement of things. Art is making things and placement. ”
About his work during this period, Loving said, “I usually work on five or six pieces at a time, and usually I’m dealing with some particular question. What I’m doing now is dealing with shape and color. How do you deal with one and not destroy the other? …. for the first three or four days that I’m working on something, I know that none of this is going to be visible when it’s finished. Then I reach the point where the real question of why I painted this particular picture arises. That’s the part I like; it concerns the final placement of things. Art is making things and placement. ”
Not on view
In Collection(s)