Tantrum II
Artist: Larry Poons (American, Born 1937)
Date: 1979
Dimensions:
66 × 162 in. (167.6 × 411.5 cm)
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Jamar Art Fund of Marvin and Lenore Kobacker and Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Joseph A. Gosman, by exchange
Object number: 2019.3
Label Text:During the early 1960s, Larry Poons made an impact on the New York art scene with his abstract paintings of small, vibrantly colored dots and ellipses systematically dispersed across a large field of a single color. This period was short-lived, and the artist soon adopted a technique that became known as “throw paintings.” While Poons’s earlier works were tightly controlled geometric studies, the throw paintings were the opposite. Poons explained his evolving approach by saying, "You start a painting and then you react to every moment along the way."
This approach has largely guided Poons throughout the last 50 years. Tantrum II is one of the finest examples of Poons's throw paintings. Visually dynamic, it has a remarkable tension, balancing bright pinks and purples with earthier peaches, yellows, and browns. The painting is a record of process—it shows the layers and layers of drips and throws that it took to create it, at the same time that it brilliantly encapsulates a formal sense of movement and rhythm across the canvas.
This approach has largely guided Poons throughout the last 50 years. Tantrum II is one of the finest examples of Poons's throw paintings. Visually dynamic, it has a remarkable tension, balancing bright pinks and purples with earthier peaches, yellows, and browns. The painting is a record of process—it shows the layers and layers of drips and throws that it took to create it, at the same time that it brilliantly encapsulates a formal sense of movement and rhythm across the canvas.
On view