Clyfford Still: A Legacy for Buffalo
November 9, 2024Located in the new wing of the Buffalo AGK Art Museum is Clyfford Still: A Legacy for Buffalo. The exhibition dedicated to the Abstract Expressionist Clyfford Still is a feast of colours and forms featuring 33 of the artist’s oil on canvas works spread throughout four extensive galleries. From the moment of entry, Still’s massive works command attention. His characteristic play of vast colour fields punctuated by jagged shapes provokes the viewers attention. Pieces like 1957-D-No.1, 1957 and April 1962, 1962 demonstrate expertise in shaping form, harnessing colour and evoking emotion onto the canvas. In a post-World War II world, Still’s paintings resonate with the collective angst and search for meaning in the social-political backdrop of his time. Making a compelling case for the artwork’s continued relevance in todays world, fraught with anxieties. From the rapid pace of technological advancements and its consequent societal shifts to global issues such as climate change, political unrest and pandemics, the collective consciousness is a sensory overload. The expanses of colour and lack of context in Still’s paintings provide breathing room for the viewer to retreat, reflect and find solace. Still was dogmatic in his belief that to purify one’s artistic vision, the artist has to be free from convention, external influences, and commercial pressure. He was a known loner who actively avoided the spotlight and, above all, wanted his artworks to be independent vessels of emotional expression free from any consistent association or meaning. This is precisely what gives the artworks significance; they offer a pause from daily life and confront the viewer to hang back and immerse themselves in the large expanses of colour.
Walking into the exhibition, one of the first works you see is 1941-2-C, 1941-1942. Hanging at eye level, like a mirror, the canvas is consumed by black and blue oil paint with a singular white mark in the upper left corner. Located in the centre of the darkness is a looming monolithic form with notched motifs that are barely visible. It provokes the viewer to stop and look closely as if to say, “do you see me?”. The black and dark blue paint is applied in visible layers that move in and out of each other, with tiny specks of raw canvas peaking through the edges of the work, further inducing the viewer. Conventionally, black is perceived as a hue representing quietude and solemnity. Yet for Still, this traditional interpretation was insufficient, even confining. He viewed black not as an abyss but as a fertile ground with generative potential. In 1941-2-C, his unconventional perspective becomes manifest; the expanses of dark hues don’t merely absorb - they radiate. This is not a cold void of empty space but the warm embrace of a starlight night, perhaps full of mysteries waiting to be uncovered. Still urges us to see not with our eyes but with our emotions to recognize what might, at first glance, seem void or desolate.
Another work on view is April 1962, 1962. A large oil on canvas is positioned near the ground so it resonates seamlessly with the viewer’s stature. At the heart of the painting are five distinct painted forms; a segment of red with its edges notched evokes the monolithic form seen in PH-154. Hovering above the red is a dark green shape fraying at its ends, reminiscent of a tuft of grass. Above this is a jagged brown form with its tips clipped by the canvas’s edge. These are nestled within a tranquil beige expanse that fills the canvas, emanating a soothing calm that beckons the viewer to lean back and immerse themselves in the work. Created during a pivotal year when Still removed himself from the New York City art circuit and settled down on a Maryland farm, this painting’s expansive space and harmonious palette of red, green, brown, yellow and beige capture a feeling of freedom. There is no way to know for sure what Still wanted to capture with this work; in fact, he never wanted a specific meaning to be tied to something he created, hence the elusive titles. Because of this, no established notions are binding it down; it is simply up to the spectator to position themselves in their own interpretations.
This oil on canvas is a signature of Still. It has a monumental scale, jagged puzzle-like shapes and fat plots of bold colours. Yellow, black, white and beige colour fields stop and start throughout the canvas. The content appears to be cropped by the painting edge, which suggests a continuation beyond what is visible, speaking to the emotional capability of the work. Something must be said about how Still knows how to start and stop a line. Each mark made on the canvas is a meditated force for the viewer to experience. The use of such a large scale, 113 x 159 inches, allows the viewer to look closely at the paint surface, scoping out each little mark like a game of I-Spy. Still, Clyfford 1957-D-No.1, 1957. Oil on canvas, 113 x 159 inches. Collection of Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, New York. Clyfford Still: A Legacy for Buffalo is a refreshing visual symphony of vibrant hues and jagged shapes that call for attention. Viewing the exhibition was a soothing and playful experience that immersed me in a world free from conventions. His belief in artistic autonomy gives the works a raw, untamed energy that transforms them into unadulterated vessels of expression subjective to each individual viewer.
