The Easel

19th July 2022

Milton Avery: conversations with colour

Avery came to art late – he made his “breakthrough” work at 60 – but then produced work of “astonishing resplendence”. Was he a quirky follower of Matisse or someone who saw more radical uses of colour? The above piece definitely thinks the latter but other opinions vary. Avery only painted “things seen”, observes one critic. The more radical step – using colour to “evoke thoughts and feelings rather than to describe the visible world” – had to await the next generation.

Larry Bell saturates senses and bends perception at Hauser & Wirth London

A casual job at an art framing studio taught Bell that glass absorbs, reflects and transmits light. That inspired his art career. Glass panes, coated with chemicals to alter its colour and reflectivity, are assembled into geometric shapes that create “sensory saturation, a collision of right angles, colors and planes”. Bell’s acclaimed large standing works “exist in in-between worlds; their currency is their illusion; how volume can be so heavily implied, without needing to exist”. More images are here.