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Power, Elegance and Savageness: New Abstract Works

Exploring Color, Beauty and a Series of Dragons

I continue to paint a great deal, but it becomes harder to move beyond the previous work. Some viewers may find the paintings much alike. For me, each one returns to particular questions that I want to work through more fully.

Broad red curves and black angular strokes with pale speckles around open white areas
Elegance and savageness: Abstract ink composition in red and black

Elegance and Savageness

The question of beauty is becoming increasingly central. Painting beautiful pictures has never been my primary concern, but I cannot ignore it. Beauty without mere prettiness seems a worthwhile aim. In the red and black work above, broad curves meet sharper, more restless marks; I am interested in how elegance and savageness can coexist.

The painting below belongs to my dragon series. Its red and pink strokes bend around a large white opening. The dragon remains an association within the brushwork, rather than a creature described in detail.

Dragon-series painting with red and pink angular brushwork surrounding a large white opening

Savageness

Another series addresses depression. The painting below is one of those works. Pink and brown passages are interrupted by heavy black strokes, while a broad unpainted area separates the upper and lower forms.

Pink, brown and black brush forms divided by a broad white area, from a series addressing depression

How much force can a painting hold while remaining beautiful? I keep returning to that question, without wanting to settle it too quickly.

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11 responses to “Power, Elegance and Savageness: New Abstract Works”

  1. Martha Kennedy avatar
    Martha Kennedy

    I’m pretty lost as an artist right now which is OK because it means I’ve learned something and it’s all processing itself in whatever non-verbal organ from which paintings come.

    I had the experience last weekend of seeing a couple of my paintings in a little show. I didn’t hang them, so that’s one thing. But they looked different to me than they ever had I think as a result of being in a different setting with work done by people I don’t know. There was something to them that I can’t put a finger on or words too, something that set them apart. I don’t think they’re great works of art. One was painted as an experiment with a set of paints I’d just gotten; the other was an act of love toward a kind of building that exists here, in this part of the world, and no where else.
    So…

    This is a very interesting statement, “Beautiful without appearing compliant seems to me to be a good compromise.” Compliant to what? I was thinking that as an artist there is a lot to which we can bend and it’s all kind of noxious in a way, but people who buy my paintings buy them because they’re pretty or remind them of things they already know and love.

    Anyway, I’m glad you keep pushing yourself. I love the dragon which is not only figuratively reminiscent of “dragon ness” but also dragon in color and motion. I think elegance is a worthy goal.

    Reply
    1. zettl.fr avatar
      zettl.fr

      Martha, thank you very much! I am happy to hear that your work has been exhibited! Oh, I know that, pictures often look very different at home than in an exhibition. One thing I know for sure is that I will spend a lot of time at my next exhibition (2022) to consider well how to hang the pictures correctly.

      As for using the word “compliant”: I’m sorry for my imprecise formulation (my English is not that good). What I was interested in is a trend that I have noticed for a long time: not only in painting, more and more artists seem to be trying to paint to the taste of the public. In my opinion, this endeavor, coupled with political correctness, means that there is an unbelievable amount of meaningless art on the market. Tasteful, pleasing, goes well with the designer sofa.

      This is basically not new and if someone has to live from their art, I can understand that to a certain extent. I am in the fortunate position of not facing pressure to sell, so I am allowed to strive for ideals. Whether I can do it is another question …

      Reply
      1. Martha Kennedy avatar
        Martha Kennedy

        Your word “compliant” was perfectly used and what you’ve written here to explain it is exactly how I understood it. This is precisely the question I’m asking myself right now in some way. I don’t know what I’m doing as an artist, and I don’t even know why. I was bound to come to this point sooner or later. I’m in the same position as you; I don’t have to earn money from my paintings. I like to, though… 😉

        There’s nothing wrong with your English. My German is the useful kind. I can understand announcements at the train station and order from a menu. Last time I was in Zürich having dinner with my friends — both historians — I even found the courage to speak. My friend’s girlfriend is from Germany so they speak high German together though I think the longer she’s in Zürich the more Schiwzer-deutsch she will speak. I said, “Oh my, that was German!” Rainer said, “I didn’t even notice.” He hadn’t noticed; he’d simply responded. It was a wonderful moment since my German school has been Rosetta Stone and Goethe.

  2. swabby429 avatar
    swabby429

    Being an astrological dragon, the concept and depictions of dragons fascinates me.

    Reply
  3. zettl.fr avatar
    zettl.fr

    Great! I am still working on this series of dragons and will introduce that soon.

    Reply
  4. zettl.fr avatar
    zettl.fr

    Martha, yes, I know what you are talking about ” I don’t know what I’m doing as an artist, and I don’t even know why.”. I really have been painting a lot and generally speaking I like what I am doing. But I sure lack in resonance. Is worpress the right medium to get in touch with art lovers? Are galleries? Obviously not necessarily. I recently had a conversation with a very idealistic gallerist. She says she is considering whether to continue at all. Why? People come to the vernissages, eat and drink extensively and don’t even pretend to look at the works on display. Then why the effort? I will have 1-2 exhibitions next year, thank you, but I should try to reach people via the internet. My summer program: marketing.

    Yes, Switzeduitsch is lovely 🙂

    Reply
    1. Martha Kennedy avatar
      Martha Kennedy

      Marketing is a big challenge (and not that interesting to do…), but I’ve sold paintings through my WordPress blog and through Facebook. I put my ink drawings — the illustrations for a book — on Fine Art America and that’s yielded nothing. My purpose there was to make it easy for the small museum in the part of Wyoming where the book is set to order prints and notecards if they wanted. So far, nothing but it’s free. Most of what I sell I sell through a local museum in the form of notecards which leads me to think that face-to-face sales is still the most effective outreach. And that’s the “compliance” thing. Those are all pictures people want to see and that would look good in their house or remind them of a vacation in Colorado. I don’t mind painting that stuff because it teaches me a lot not so much in terms of composition (I paint those from photos I’ve taken) but in material and technique. The paintings that are NOT compliant are much, much, much better paintings.

      Reply
  5. Graham Stephen avatar
    Graham Stephen

    You say dragon; I see swan 😉

    ✨🙏🕉🌱🌿🌳🌻💚🕊☯🐉✨

    Reply
    1. zettl.fr avatar
      zettl.fr

      swan is fine too 🙂 seriously, it doesn’t matter as those are abstract paintings. as I am working on a series of dragons I just saw a dragon…..

      Reply
  6. elvira797mx avatar
    elvira797mx

    Wonderful with a lot of style, thank you for share your art.
    Elvira

    Reply
  7. elvira797mx avatar
    elvira797mx

    I see passion with elegance, by the way.
    Thank’s.
    Elvira

    Reply

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