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Description
I love Piet Mondrian, the man was a genius. However, I never really have liked "Plastic Art" or "De Stijl" (The Style), the art style Mondrian defined. Mondrian's THE RED TREES and TREES ALONG THE RIVER are two of the greatest landscapes ever painted - shocking, unnerving, mystic, brilliant. Then from my hero who created these masterpieces, colored squares and lines and dots? The guy who painted RED TREE also painted BROADWAY BOOGIE WOOGIE. I was dumbfounded.

It took me a while before I was able to except De Stijl paintings. But there is something alluring in the robotic geometry of one these box-orgies. Most art - from impressionism to abstraction, from abstract-expressionism to realism, has concerned itself with reproducing the smooth, circular, flowing colors and signs of reality. Colors blend into one another with, as the average art school would teach, no lines whatsoever (after all, there are no 'lines' in nature, right?).

I must admit that I favor this kind of artwork. The painting where the line dissapears, where color is infinite, where light explodes, is one my favorite kinds - such as Monet's TULIP IN HOLLAND. But the line and the subdued range of colors also function... look at any Van Gogh. Geometric circularity and realistic form also function in lesser amounts... which is why cubism has actually produced brilliant works of art.

At the near-end of this spectrum is De Stijl. Here, the line "is", it defines everything. Colors are reduced to the primaries, or atleast a limited number - here, seven. The only "form" or "shape" that remains is one of the most simplest, but elegant, the square (or the rectangle).

No matter how intriguing this type of painting is, of course, I could never see myself hanging more than one on my walls. Interesting, yes, but not enduring. However, it is very fun artwork to do as an amateur. The simplicity of form and color with the use of rigid straight geometry make the artist use the brush carefully, consider shape and size actively, paint happily.

MEDIUM

Oil on canvas (12' x 16')

AFTER

Piet Mondrian. Composition With Red, Blue, Yellow. 1930.

Description
I love Piet Mondrian, the man was a genius. However, I never really have liked "Plastic Art" or "De Stijl" (The Style), the art style Mondrian defined. Mondrian's THE RED TREES and TREES ALONG THE RIVER are two of the greatest landscapes ever painted - shocking, unnerving, mystic, brilliant. Then from my hero who created these masterpieces, colored squares and lines and dots? The guy who painted RED TREE also painted BROADWAY BOOGIE WOOGIE. I was dumbfounded.

It took me a while before I was able to except De Stijl paintings. But there is something alluring in the robotic geometry of one these box-orgies. Most art - from impressionism to abstraction, from abstract-expressionism to realism, has concerned itself with reproducing the smooth, circular, flowing colors and signs of reality. Colors blend into one another with, as the average art school would teach, no lines whatsoever (after all, there are no 'lines' in nature, right?).

I must admit that I favor this kind of artwork. The painting where the line dissapears, where color is infinite, where light explodes, is one my favorite kinds - such as Monet's TULIP IN HOLLAND. But the line and the subdued range of colors also function... look at any Van Gogh. Geometric circularity and realistic form also function in lesser amounts... which is why cubism has actually produced brilliant works of art.

At the near-end of this spectrum is De Stijl. Here, the line "is", it defines everything. Colors are reduced to the primaries, or atleast a limited number - here, seven. The only "form" or "shape" that remains is one of the most simplest, but elegant, the square (or the rectangle).

No matter how intriguing this type of painting is, of course, I could never see myself hanging more than one on my walls. Interesting, yes, but not enduring. However, it is very fun artwork to do as an amateur. The simplicity of form and color with the use of rigid straight geometry make the artist use the brush carefully, consider shape and size actively, paint happily.

MEDIUM

Oil on canvas (12' x 16')

AFTER

Piet Mondrian. Composition With Red, Blue, Yellow. 1930.