“Composition”, 1939
Ben Nicholson, Auckaland Gallery Toi o Tamaki
Like a lot of people, I am a big fanboy for New York Abstract Expressionism. Recent experiences have opened my horizons and my mind. Currently, there are wonderful exhibitions from the Toledo Gallery, Ohio, and the Auckland Gallery on show in Australia. They are in Adelaide and Shepparton respectively. Melissa and I have been lucky enough to enough to see both. These shows have a sleeper artist, that stands out to me in both exhibitions. In the late 1930s, Ben Nicholson became Britain’s foremost practitioner and advocate of abstract art. He led a collective of like minded artists based in Cornwall, known as the St Ives group, that might be just as important as those from New York. Nicholson himself acknowledged the influence of Mondrian on his art, something easy to see with this pre WW2 piece. #acrosstheatlantic #letsmakelemonade
Pen Paint and Scalpel 