BLUE HARMONY - TABLEAU ABSTRAIT À LA PEINTURE À L'HUILE (2016)Painting by Sophie Artinian.
Line: "One-direction continuous geometric figure, intuitively definable as formed by the successive positions of a point in motion." - Oxford Languages
Introducing the subject of "linear" with the above definition, I proceed by adding that the above-mentioned geometric figure represents a fundamental dynamic element of visual communication, having the function of shaping, and thus generating, the profiles and volumes of the subjects of figurative art. In the abstract sphere, the same, as moving dots untethered from the construction of images of reality, is capable of evoking profound sensations, reconnectable to inevitably abstracts concepts. Beginning with the role of the line within the figurative arts, it is good to highlight how depictions related to the sensible world began precisely with such a geometric figure, which, traced on the ground or on the wall of a cave, came to life, at first, as an elementary outline of things, and then became, with its most studied nuances and superimpositions, an indispensable prerequisite for a multitude of more complex artistic manifestations. In fact, there is no master, or almost no master, who has not made use of drawing to analyze, understand, conceive or sketch a figurative project, since only through the depiction of lines is it possible to thoroughly understand the proportions, measurements, surface finish, volumes and ratios of the subjects, in order to know them in a profound and definitive manner. Having come to this point, it is impossible not to think of the work of Leonardo da Vinci, one of the greatest artists in the history of art, but also one of the most important masters of drawing, who, in Child in the Womb, superimposed and intricated lines to constirute, as well as study, the image of life par excellence. About the subject matter of the latter drawing, da Vinci, stimulated by Aristotle's classical studies of embryology, approached the study of the reproductive system, examining first that of cattle and then that of women. In Bambino nel grembno materna (Child in the Womb), a seven-month-old human fetus inside its mother's womb is depicted through the succession of complex, perspective lines, an organ that the Italian genius first intuited was filled with a liquid, which would allow the child to better distruibuire its weight and not burden its mother. Still speaking of Italian masters, also noteworthy is Michelangelo's black pencil, red pencil, white lead and ink on paper, which, largely "minimalist," is titled Madonna and Child (c. 1525) and depicts the Virgin intent on suckling her child, who, from behind, denies her face to the viewer.
THE EMOTIONAL CREATION #373 (2023)Painting by Carla Sá Fernandes.
GG-5 (2017)Painting by Tim Blagodov.
Precisely the little Jesus turns out to be more finished in execution, especially in his body, while his head, like the figure of his mother, appears somewhat rough-hewn by chiaroscuro hatching. At this point let us try to introduce the combination of drawing and painting, first within figurative works, where the two techniques are clearly distinct, and later in masterpieces where the two expressive media gradually merge, until we reach the purest conceptuality of abstractionism. Let us begin with the drawing of the close-up of a thinking woman, whose rather sketchy contour lines and definition stand out against oil paints rendered by principally pale and not very naturalistic colors: I am speaking of Head of a Woman (1924) by Pablo Picasso. The small painting in question bears the signature and date "Picasso 24," a detail that is present in the upper right corner of the support, although the frame of the same work bears the inscription "February 1925," an inscription that might suggest that the master did not begin the work until late 1924. Dating aside, the oil depicts, like many of the Spaniard's cubist, multifaceted subjects, a woman's face divided into two distinct halves, just as if she were being viewed from two different angles, or representing a combined male-female head. However, the physiognomic features of the subject are entrusted to a drawing executed with a few schematic lines, on which the paint is arranged, without merging, as flat areas of mainly pink and white color. The aforementioned contours of the face were, most likely, drawn by the incision of their lines in the thick pictorial impasto, through the skillful use of the brush handle. Another work by Picasso, intended to represent a gradual increase in the fusion of linear and pictorial language, is Jacqueline, a 1961 painting, in which the same oil colors form the lines of the effigy's shirt, as well as the details of her hat and the sharp contours, intended to construct the somatic features of the subject and the chair on which she lies. Finally, speaking of abstractionism, it is only within this current that the line, now disconnected from the real datum, can represent only itself, moving sinuously among colors and constructing geometric forms, just as happens in the iconic Composition VIII, Vasily Kandinsky's 1923 masterpiece, in which the triangle, square, circle the simple line and primary colors interact, making concrete those concepts of formal and chromatic correspondences addressed by the master in the earlier publication On the Spiritual of Art, aimed at illustrating the theory that ringing colors are intesified by the presence of acute forms, just as colors that emanate depth are enhanced by round shapes. Finally, the narrative around the line continues through analysis of the work of Artmajeur artists such as: Gdel, Karl S, Alan Wrightson, and Les Pinceaux De Marie.
A MOMENT SO CLOSE TO YOUR WORDS (2023)Painting by Tehos.
FORESCUBE921 (2021)Painting by Gdel.
Gdel: Forescube921
Against a blue background, a color generally associated with the sky and the sea, there is arranged, especially in the central part of the support, an interlocking of black lines, intended to remind us of all the meanings, which this continuous geometric figure has taken on in abstract art, referring, especially, to the work of Vasily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Agnes Martin, Cy Twombly and Bridget Riley. In fact, if for the former master the line had the task of conveying a spirituality akin to that diffused by the musical world, as well as an emotional impact, which, induced by dimensional and perspective lines, was capable of moving the souls, the latter, strongly convinced in the communicative power of the line, wished, through this element, to reduce the language of painting to the essential, revealing the spiritual truth of the universe. About Agnes Martin, on the other hand, the artist painted grids, which, seemingly precise, contained revealing, subtle and tiny imperfections, aimed at conveying something essentially organic and human. Continuing with Cy Twombly, he used line to communicate abstract and intense feelings, diffused by glyphic scribbles, whose sensuous curves recall a kind of primitive writing. Finally, regarding Bridget Riley, the painter used the line to evoke a response, both emotional and physical, from viewers, generated mainly by the sensation of movement created by her paintings.
LINES #090 (2022)Painting by Karl S.
POND MARGINS (2020)Painting by Alan Wrightson.
Karl S: Line #090
Alan Wrightson: Pond margins
The above titles are two in that both Artmajeur artists, both Karl S and Alan Wrightson, allowed me to connect their work, expressed in Line #090 and Pond margins, to the artistic investigation of Gene Davis (1920 - 1985), an American Color Field painter, best known for his works of vertical stripes of color. In fact, precisely Line #090 could represent an animated and airy evolution of the concept of line, explicated in "ordered" and "static" masterpieces of the caliber of Battle for Grownups from Portfolio Series II (1969) or Raspberry Icicle (1967), while Pond margins would lend dynamism to the quieter, but chromatically similar, Monet's Garden (1980). In addition, both the latter work and Pond margins refer to the pond environment, although only in Gene Davis's acrylic is it explicated how this place corresponds to the location, in which the French master Monet painted his famous water lilies, subjects now cleverly reduced to colored lines. Finally, about the two artists in Artmajeur, Karl S's abstractionism often focuses on the form of the line, which is rendered in swaying, energetic compositions, intended to echo the intense, primitive feelings of Cy Twombly, while Wrightson, on the other hand, experiments with multiple forms of abstractionism, no doubt influenced by his musical interests, probably akin to those of Kandinsky.
LA LINÉA & MARIO BROS (2022)Painting by Les Pinceaux De Marie.
Les Pinceaux De Marie: The Line & Mario Bros
Concluding the many ways in which the line has been depicted in art, one could not miss that of Osvaldo Cavaldoli, an Italian animator, director and cartoonist, famous for having created and animated the character of the Line, the protagonist of a cartoon consisting of a little man, who walks an infinite line, of which it is an integral part, along with the obstacles he encounters on his way, to which he finds a solution by asking for help from the cartoonist himself. Precisely in 1969, Cavandoli presented the said character, initially known as Mr. Linea, to advertising agencies engaged in the production of films for the RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana S.p.A.) Carousel. This subject attracted the attention of Emilio Lagostina, an engineer, art collector and owner of the renowned pressure cooker company of the same name, who wanted him as a cartoon protagonist for his business. Subsequently, the character's now-popular adventures, accompanied by a vaguely jazzy soundtrack and dubbing by the well-known Carlo Bonomi, became the protagonists of a series of well-known commercials that were also broadcast internationally, leading later to the creation of themed DVDs and comic books. Speaking of La linea & Mario Bros, the character of Linea now comes face to face with Super Mario, another well-known Italian, who is probably presented as an enemy, as the protagonist of Cavaldoli's comic strip seems to raise his hands to the sky, to ask for help from his creator, who, in this case is unable to help him, since in Les Pinceaux De Marie's acrylic the temporal evolution of the comic narrative comes to lack. As a matter of fact, Linea will forever remain immortalized with his arms raised, perpetually seeking attention, in front of the most well-known protagonist in the world of video games, without being able to resolve his situation.
Olimpia Gaia Martinelli
