I get excited for art like a person gets excited about a celebrity. I fangirl and squeal and try to take selfies with inanimate objects. I know. Weird, but spending hours studying art history in college will do that to you. Seeing a piece in person, being in its presence! Like, I can’t even.
Anyway I went to Art Basel 2016 in Miami and saw so many different pieces from well-known artists. One of my favorite pieces was by Louise Nevelson (1899-1988). It’s also worth upwards of $649,000. I was surprised that there wasn’t a group of people hovering around her work so I took that opportunity and snapped a picture with one of her pieces.
When I get a brand new blank canvas I spend weeks trying to figure out what to create. Ever heard the phrase paradox of choice? If there is too much freedom we become caged within the overwhelming decision to choose that we do not choose at all. Nevelson on the other hand limited herself to two colors: white and black. In fact she immersed herself in the latter and painted the walls of her room completely black.
Nevelson described black as the "total color" that "means totality. It means: contains all ... it contained all color. It wasn't a negation of color. It was an acceptance. Because black encompasses all colors. Black is the most aristocratic color of all. “The only aristocratic color ... I have seen things that were transformed into black that took on greatness. I don't want to use a lesser word.”*
I do recall going through a Goth phase back in high school however; my main reason I admire Nevelson is because she challenged the vision of what type of art women should be creating. Critics thought her work powerful until they discovered her gender, then they quickly took back their praise. Nevelson believed that art reflected the individual, not masculine-feminine labels, and chose to take on her role as an artist, not specifically a female artist.* She took a stand for women and their capabilities and that’s something I will always admire.
*Columbus Museum of Art 2015 *Rapaport,5.