Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction

I had the pleasure of spending Saturday afternoon with Georgia O'Keeffe. She is much more than the vagina flowers she’s known for (she claimed these paintings weren't sparked by what critics assumed was latent lesbianism, nor were they caused by her assumed sexual frustration). On view at the Phillips Collection are over 100 of her bright paintings and drawings, including her earlier and more known pieces. Also included are photographs of O'Keeffe taken by her husband, Alfred Stieglitz. Some of my favorites from Abstraction are below. Above: Jack-in-the-Pulpit No. IV, 1930 oil on canvas (40 x 30 in). This image headed the gallery's advertisements for the exhibition. A collection of vivid, colorful, sensual and imaginative pieces, mostly inspired from desert life.   

My picks from Abstraction:

    

Music, Pink and Blue No. II, 1918. Oil on canvas, 35 x 29 1/8 in.

Sky Above Clouds III / Above the Clouds III, 1963. Oil on canvas, 48 x 84 in.

Georgia O'Keeffe: A Portrait, 1918. Photograph by Alfred Stieglitz.

Black Door with Red, 1954. Oil on canvas, 48 x 84 in.

Pelvis Series - Red with Yellow, 1945. Oil on canvas, 36 x 48 in.

Ram's Skull with Brown Leaves, 1936. Oil on canvas, 30 x 36 in.

Georgia O'Keeffe (Hands), 1918. Photograph by Alfred Stieglitz.

Sunil Gupta's New Pre-Raphaelites

The New Pre-Raphaelites: 12 ink-jet printed photographs of cross-dressing Indian men and women, who imitate the classic poses of 19th-century sitters, on display at the Grosvenor Gallery (London). Gupta's subjects are all very obviously gay. Homosexuality has been a recurrent theme in Gupta's work for the last 30 years. The Grosvenor Gallery also featured his series Mr. Malhotra’s Party in 2007, the subject of which is again Indian gays and lesbians, who "stare defiantly into the camera.” This motif reminds me of the work of African-American abstract expressionist artists from the '60s and '70s, who centered upon similar themes, but about Blacks. Gupta’s photos are brimming with self-avowal, sexuality, culture, ethnicity, and color. He’s put an innovative twist on the art of the 19th century greats (many of whose sexually has or had been speculated over at one time or another) in a way that’s relevant in the 21st century. 

Featured above: The New Pre-Raphaelites 8    




More of my favorites from The New Pre-Rapaelites--13 series:

The New Pre-Raphaelites 6

The New Pre-Raphaelites 4

The New Pre-Raphaelites 11

The New Pre-Raphaelites 12

The New Pre-Raphaelites 5

The New Pre-Raphaelites 2