Poster Boy

Stuart did a lot of looking.

Stuart did a lot of painting.

Stuart set up an egg-beater, and painted pictures of it.

Again, and again, for decades.

This was serious business.

Stuart the Poster man - beating that egg! Abstract prints.

As one of America's best-known 20th Century Modernists, Stuart Davis was a firm believer in abstraction. That he was able to re-interpret exactly the same setting many times, over many years, shows his seriousness about using the scene only as a starting point. He even nailed the objects down!

You can see a fairly obvious, cubist-like version in the first image. But the later ones, despite being enjoyable and suggestive of a still-life in a room, reveal almost nothing egg-beatery.

This has given me courage. If an egg-beater on a table can lead to so many pictures, then so can....well, anything! Including any drawing, any painting, any photograph. Even a "bad" work of art.

Early stage in my abstract from "Klee Letters"

Abstract starts to look like things!

In a previous post I showed a work-in-progress. It's been my "egg-beater" for the last month: it's spawned 7 distinct designs, and I feel like I've only just started.

Little windows made from letters ("Klee Writing")

Landscape or Architecture?

The lesson for me? If you apply your mind and your own aesthetics and concepts to a setting, it can become a world of exploration and discovery.

Stuart Davis drew, painted, and printed posters. He's also my Poster Boy for Abstraction!