Ross Bleckner, Brothers' Swords, 1986

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oil on 2 adjoined canvases

274 x 213 cm
107 7/8 x 83 7/8 in

Brothers’ Swords is a large-scale oil painting composed of two adjoined canvases. The abstract painting of vertical black and red stripes through its height and the slight vibration and blurring...

Brothers’ Swords is a large-scale oil painting composed of two adjoined canvases. The abstract painting of vertical black and red stripes through its height and the slight vibration and blurring of the lines stipulates a hypnotising effect. The discoloration of the red stripes generates a certain shift from the pure geometry, providing an emotional dimension to his painting. The upper edge of the painting is adorned with French heraldic lilies, a symbol with a long and rich history that is often associated with the royal coat of arms, the French Royalty, as well as purity and chastity in religion. The lily is a recurrent theme in Bleckner’s works. In the Brothers’ Swords the lily flower gives a figurative side to the painting and as suggested in the title refers to the coat of arms. The painting, even though it is mostly non-representational, incorporates, visual optical effects and addresses themes related to loss and sadness similarly to other of his paintings. Another aspect of his works is that they are often associated to themes of memory especially to those lost to the AIDS epidemic.

Ross Bleckner started to work as an artist in the 1970s and was one of the first artists to join the Mary Boone Gallery in New York. He concentrated the anger and mourning of the AIDS crisis into his paintings. Between 1995 and 2003 using different methods, such as airbrush painting, Bleckner changed subject towards a series of bird paintings. Dealing with subjects of loss, transcendence and remembrance, Bleckner continues to merge both mind and soul onto his canvases, influencing the art world in a sincere and personal way. He currently lives and works in New York. Bleckner held major solo exhibitions around the world, including at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Carnegie Museum of Art, Kunsthalle Zurich, Milwaukee Art Museum, Astrup Fearnley Museet for Moderne Kunst in Oslo, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York, IVAM Centre Julio González in Valencia, Cais Gallery in Seoul, Galerie Ernst Beyeler in Riehen near Basel, and many others. Today, his works are part of museum collections around the world, such as the MoMA, New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

Provenance

Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles
Private Collection, Chicago
Mary Boone, New York

Exhibitions

1986, MARUANI MERCIER, October 2020 - January 2021, Brussels, Belgium

The Image of Abstraction, The Museum of Contemporary Art, July - October 1988, Los Angeles, CA

Cal Arts: Skeptical Belief(s), Newport Harbor Art Museum, January - March 1988, Newport Beach, CA

Literature

Liam Otten, "American Art of the 1980s," The Source, Washington University in St. Louis, 8 December 2003, illustrated in color (online)
Joan Campàs Montaner and Anna Gonzàlez Rueda, La posmodernidad en arte, Barcelona 2015, p. 188, illustrated in color

Ross Bleckner United States, b. 1949

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Ross Bleckner United States, b. 1949

Further images

Provenance

Exhibitions

Literature