Lot 198: Martin Penrose "New York Railroad Apartment", 1983

Abstract

13 x 27

Gouache on Paper

1983

Perfect

Born in 1947, Martin Penrose was predominantly influenced by the 1960s. In the art world, a multitude of significant changes were also taking place. Pop Art, embodying the culture of mass media through the works of Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Tom Wesselmann, was slowly breaking down the bases on which the production and reception of art were built. Drawing from the imagery of popular culture and mass consumerism, the Pop Artists refuted the authority of highbrow art and created a revolutionary movement, while Minimalism, simultaneously appearing, was rejecting any form of emotional manifestation and focused on art’s theoretical aspect – aspiring to pure visual responses. Historically established in the context of the Cold War, the 1960s represent an extremely influential era which generated a significant number of breaks and challenged the order of all things. In Europe, The Iron Curtain and the Berlin wall would permanently mark people and beliefs, while in the U.S, events such as the Cuban missile crisis and Vietnam war would forever impact generations to come. From education to gender issues and ideologies, a re-definition of social standards in Western society ensued, with revolutionary philosophies and movements evolving in a cradle of innovation. Simplicity and an emptiness of emotions were key concepts in the highly influential movement of Minimalism, embodied by artists such as Frank Stella, Donald Judd and Agnes Martin. Uninterested in the gestural elements of Abstract Expressionism, Minimalist artists focused on delivering artworks mainly composed of polished, pure lines and geometrical elements. Exploring further into some of the ideas inherent to Abstract Expressionism, artists like Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland and Helen Frankenthaler practiced Colour Field Painting – strongly relating to Minimalism, with a fundamentally ruled-based approach, emptied of any expressive aspect. The very first blossoming of Conceptualism was highly influenced by the purity of Minimalism but went further in denying all pre-defined conceptions inherent to art, similarly to what Pop Artists were trying to attain, by elevating popular culture to the status of high art. Several schools of philosophy deeply influenced creatives, Francis Bacon and Alberto Giacometti were artists heavily persuaded by the ideas of Existentialism, who achieved worldwide fame through their depiction of the human form and the lament often linked to the human condition. Internationally, an important number of art movements echoed with the radical changes of the 1960s, often prone to their own regional distinctions. In Italy, Lucio Fontana and Piero Manzoni created Spatialism, while in Germany, the Zero group espoused similar ideas under the leadership of Günther Uecker.

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