One of the great things
about being an artist is that you never grow old. This is true of everybody in
a creative field: writers, composers, musicians, inventors. Maybe your age
numbers get higher but your soul remains forever young. If there are
disabilities, you learn to work with them; they may even lead you to explore
new terrain.
The New York Times recently
featured the latest hot ticket item in the art world: a 101-year old Cuban born
woman painter, Carmen Herrera. A member of the Hard-edge, geometry-based
movement popular in the 1950s and ‘60s, she has had moments of recognition
since then but like many of the others in the field, faded from view. I’ve
always admired Hard-edge painting, impressed by anyone who could achieve a
flawless layer of paint or remove a piece of masking tape without making a
mess. Perfect edges were never my forte; I got a C in drafting in college and
only because I burst into tears when I heard I was getting a D.
Anyhow, Ms. Herrera is finally making the “big
time” at the age of 101 with a retrospective of her work from the 1960s and 70s
at the Whitney Museum. It doesn’t get much better than that. It turns out that
while she never achieved the upper echelon of the Hard edge/Minimalist movement
like Albers, or Barnett Newman, Ellsworth Kelly or Frank Stella, she consistent
kept working and exhibiting and even today, at 101, manages to paint several
hours every day. She’s “in” on several fronts: her age (older artists are now being
recognized), she’s a woman, and she’s Hispanic, a triple whammy of political
correctness for the Whitney. Frankly, I’m most impressed that despite being
crippled by arthritis, she’s going strong.
I once knew a pretty famous
abstract expressionist sculptor (yes, there were a few) called Reuben Nakian….a
colorful old rascal. When asked how to achieve fame and fortune in the art
world, he would reply: “You have to live long enough.” And that’s exactly what
I am trying to do.
But here’s where I get into trouble
with the political correctness police. I really resent someone who achieves
success for any reason other than the quality of his or her work. There’s
enough competition without adding extraneous factors. I don’t approve of an
artist being neglected or rejected because of their sexual
orientation, their ethnicity, their age or their race. On the other hand, I
resent it when they get a break because of these factors. I know the
rationale is that this is ‘catch-up time,’ but I still think it’s wrong. In the case of the Hard-edge movement, I can
name a half dozen other artists from that era, i.e. Nicholas Krushenick or
Chuck Hinman, relatively unknown today, who I think are as good as or superior
to (and much more original than) Ms Herrera. This is not to say her show won’t
be excellent (it will be) and she’s not worthy of belated recognition (she is,)
but in the best of all possible worlds, this should come to an artist because
of their body of work, not because they happen to be “the flavor of the month.”
BTW
The illustrations for this post don’t really relate to
Hard Edge. They’re photos I took several years ago of a dead neon sign
graveyard in Las Vegas. It was the most interesting part of the trip.
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