A
Cappadocian Caper 1972 36” X 48” oil on canvas |
In
the hinterlands of Turkey, not too far from Mount Ararat where
Noah’s Ark supposedly landed, rise the exotic rock formations
of Cappadocia. Almost in the center of a canvas I charcoaled
an improvised “word” in Near Eastern script. Later
I hard-edged it in oil. Scrutiny revealed that the “script”
had evolved into a fetus, lying on its back with legs, one
arm and head pointed upwards. (This fetus is located at breast
level in the large “woman” on the left). Aha!
This was the “moment” to adopt the aesthetic of
the eye-opening Optical Artists, the Post-Painterly Abstractionists
and the Abstract Classicists of the 50’s and 60’s,
together with the Huichol Indians’ hallucinatory visions
in yarn. Matter must advance and recede in space through the
juxtaposition of single, flat, “texturelessness”
of one color, one hue, and hard-edged shapes.
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