ARCHIVE: 1973 Ch'an & abstract landscsapes
(drawing, painting, collage)
(drawing, painting, collage)
1973: Abandoned figure painting and returned to abstraction working with concepts embodied with Cy Twombly, Antoni Tapies, John Cage, Chinese Ch'an, and Japanese Zen. Practice is related to Automatism, non-objective esthetics, and improvisation.
I rarely, then as now, ever completely close a set or series of works when I feel that (at a particular point in time) the themes are exhausted. I put the project to sleep, then will wake it later for further study and development. The Ch'an Series began by reviving MFA oil on paper themes (1967) as an update project. Note: I revisited this page and whoa! Need to correct the chaos in the numbering. This being said, scroll to the bottom of this page to see 1697 oil on paper references.
The base reference for the AbLand paintings is the landscape/seascape relationships located on Cape Cod Massachusetts. In 1973 Elaine's parents bought property on Cape Cod and from that date forward many hours were spent photographing these relationships. The photographs were used as reference when creating work back in the Connecticut studio. Many drawings and watercolors were made on site on Cape Cod as self standing works as well as studies for large oils or acrylics created in the studio.
