Absence

I know I didn't post an article since may be more than a month, however after this big absence I was looking for a new subject which could interest my viewers… After feeling so ashamed about my absence I had the wonderful idea to write about the eloquence of absence in a painting ! I've been noticing that the vacuum of white has been really popular this year in photography but also in paintings. The white represents calm, peace but also order and clean. Some artists used it also to represent a "hidden message", which you will discover later in the article. I have selected two artists who used the white and the feeling of absence in their paintings : Tom Friedman Tom Friedman is an American sculptor known to use everyday material such as sugar cubes or toothpicks. Tom Friedman's art has been exhibited extensively in the United States and internationally. The quirky, and flawlessly executed work tends to defy categorization. While his art in often linked to 1960s Conceptualism and Minimal art, Friedman invents his own visual language through his almost obsessive attentiveness to detail and his striking ability to transform the familiar into the unexpected.

Staring by Tom Friedman

In addition to several wryly comic examples of immaterial sculpture, Friedman has also produced various riffs on the empty / uninflected canvas, each of which roguishly invokes art historical precedent as well as more seriously tackling the logic of viewing the invisible. Friedman's construction of an artwork from the vestiges of a heavily implied creative hiatus is, therefore, as problematic as it s undeniably amusing. While serving to acknowledge a history of immaterial and non-visible art, Friedman complicates the paradox of fulsome nothingness by seeming to suggest that, with this work at least, there is actually very little to it. I think this art work is really intelligent as he painter called it "Staring" because the viewer would stare at it to try to understand what the meaning of the painting. The white emptiness of this work can be stressful for the viewer who is accustomed to see a painting with at least a dote on it. This is almost provocative for me and Friedman uses this provocation to shock the viewer who won't forget this painting.

The secret painting - Art&Language

I couldn't find the artist, from the collaboration of various artist Art&Language, who made this painting but however, it makes the secret even more mysterious..

The Secret Painting (1967) consists of a white-painted canvas accompanied by the following text:

"The content of this painting is invisible: the character and dimension of the content are to be kept permanently secret, known only to the artist."

With these words, Art and Language manage to pose an almost unfathomable series of conundrums regarding our interpretation of their artwork.

Although, the canvas seems absolutely reminiscent of a white monochrome, we are clearly informed this isn't the case: the 'real' painting is not ably invisible, its dimensions may vary from the non-work presented.

Moreover, any use of its blank space as a springboard for our own suggestive projection is expressly disallowed; in a radical enforcement of authorial control, we are told that there is, essentially, only one possible manifestation of this painting. Aptly applying the mechanics of language to conjure complete invisibility from an already blank space, Art&Language's maneuvering converts presence into a painting which cannot exists even in our own minds …

I hope you liked this article and I promise that I promise that I will make more articles ! Don't forget to share it with your friends and family, see you soon !