‘Beyond Figuration: Then and Now’ will seek to generate new perspectives on this much debated artistic form, putting established 20th Century abstract artists in conversation with contemporary emerging creatives who work in non-figuration.
Abstraction continues to be prevalent within art production, and contemporary artists recall the legacy of their predecessors, adopting their formal strategies while re-contextualising and personalising their underlying meanings.
Non-figurative art thus became one of the driving forces in the evolution of art over the past 150 years; in his 1936 book Cubism and Abstract Art, Alfred H. Barr, Jr., MoMA’s first Director, described it as ‘independent painting, emancipated painting; an end in itself with its own peculiar value.’
Abstract art stands the test of time due to its widely appealing visual style and its interpretive subjectivity. The intense individualism of abstraction paradoxically lends a certain universality whereby each viewer finds intimate meaning in each piece.
ARTISTS: Eileen Agar, Fiona Rae, Bridget Riley, Berenice Sydney, Paule Vézelay, Megan Baker.
ARTISTS: Bokani, Savannah Marie Harris, Jemima Murphy, A’Driane Nieves, Manon Steyaert.
