"Lyrical Abstraction...a Definition"  is a proposed exhibition of important, exciting, beautiful and high quality abstract paintings. The artists included in this exhibition are Brice Marden and Ralph Humphrey whose quiet monochromatic paintings defined a new kind of Minimal Art in the late sixties, Frank Stella, Larry Poons and Ronald Davis whose boldly colorful works defined the move to geometric abstraction that characterized the sixties, and William Pettet, Ronnie Landfield, Dan Christensen and Peter Young whose intensely concentrated abstractions led the way back to expressionism. This exhibition will provide a new and definitive look at American abstract painting of the late sixties and how the aesthetic of those works set the standard for vanguard abstract painting of today.

This exhibition has immense educational importance. These artists began their careers in the sixties each producing a widely varied but high quality body of work. The spiritual and autobiographical content as well as the formal artistic qualities in this body of work interconnect in ways that have never been examined before. This exhibition proposes what has never been done and that is to understand and re-examine the work of artists to whom vastly different philosophies have been ascribed and yet whose works resonate together in visual conversation.

Including five or six major works by each of the nine artists the exhibition will require approximately 1200-1500 feet of exhibition wall space. All of these artists are represented in numerous important museum and university collections and participating institutions should be encouraged to consider adding works from their collections to the exhibition. Although Marden paintings have delicate surfaces that have to be carefully handled, the Ronald Davis resin paintings are easily chiped if set upon their edges or shipped without correct pading and many of the other works tend to be large, the transportation and installation of these works do not require any rigorous construction or rigging.

Many eminent critics and historians have expressed interest in contributing new essays and articles to the exhibition catalogue including Kermit Champa, Peter Schjeldahl, Hilton Kramer, Ellen Handy and Linda Nordin. A complete color catalogue with statements by each of the artists (circumstances permitting) will be accompanied by new essays by current authors and critical articles re-published from the late sixties.

This exhibition is important because of its timeliness. The disarray that characterizes the art world of today makes painfully clear the need for a show that expresses the real strength of the art of abstract painting. I deeply believe that the censorship of ideas that contradict the prevailing view and the suppression of works of art have become critical issues for painting today. Contemporary abstract painting lacks credibility because its success depends on the suppression of a generation of lyrical painters, censored since the mid seventies. The artistic landscape has become increasingly narrowed in the past twenty years and this exhibition seeks to rectify that by bringing into focus this group of important painters.

Ronnie Landfield

©Ronnie Landfield 1995

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