18 Contemporary Abstract Artists Open Up About Their Lineage

Oct 5, 2018

It is dangerous and impossible to teach art. Yet it is also imperative. For art to exist, artists must learn how to become whatever it is that they are going to become, and how to create whatever it is that they are going to create. Some will learn at school, from other flawed humans like themselves who have, for whatever reason, taken on the dangerous, impossible, imperative task of sharing with others whatever it is that they have learned. Other artists will find teachers outside of the classroom. They might learn what it means to be an artist from hanging out with other artists at openings or in bars. They might learn what it means to make art by watching videos online, or by deconstructing the art they see in museums or in books. Some artists might teach themselves what they are by following the inspiration they receive from architecture and design, by simply responding to the thoughts and feelings they experience while interacting with the everyday built environment and its innumerable products and spaces. Still others may learn how to be artists simply by embracing—and then nurturing—their inner compulsion to create. The process of making can teach us how to make. The process of being can teach us what we want to be. In the end, everyone who makes it through the learning process to the moment when they can say the phrase, “I am an artist,” without feeling it is a lie will have a story to tell about their teachers. Today we bring you a collection of such stories from artists brave enough to share their lineages of learning. They are brave because to announce their aesthetic or conceptual heritage exposes them to a terrible threat. You, the reader, might realize that one artist was a student of another artist, or was inspired by this or that thing, and mistake that for a shortcut. You might say, “Aha! Now I see who they are copying,” or, “Now I understand their art!” Instead, as you read these anecdotes of how these 18 artists became what they are, let the information expand your perception. Follow each thread and dig deeper. You might glimpse the dangerous, impossible, imperative beauty of what it really means to teach and learn art.

Anya Spielman

Spielman was a student of Wayne Thiebauld while at the University of California at Davis. About her other teachers, she says:

“A great influence for me was seeing Hieronymus Bosch’s triptych, “The Garden of Earthly Delights” at The Prado when I was a teenager. I was floored by the iconography as well as the luscious color and intricate compositions of his work. I responded immediately to the duality in Bosh’s work: his stark and illuminated palette: hues of ink black, umber, pale pink, bone, vermillion and azurite; the curves of his translucent pleasure pods in Eden juxtaposed with the piercing psychological and physical descent into a hallucinatory hell. Bosch’s visionary genius rendered human nature in all it’s forms, with a direct intimacy and power which I find incredibly rare even today.”

Anya Spielman - Ultraviolet, 2015. Oil on panel. 15.3 x 15.3 cm

Deanna Sirlin

Sirlin studied with Louis Finkelstein while a graduate student at Queens College, City University of New York. At the same school, she studied with Benny Andrews, who trained as an Abstract Expressionist at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the 1950s; Clinton Hill, who was a studio assistant to Mark Rothko; art critic and Artforum Associate Editor Robert Pincus-Witten, who she says “helped my critical eye;” and Charles Cajori, who was a student of Hans Hoffman. Says Sirlin:

“[Lineage] is indeed a complicated question. The links with artists go sideways as well. Anne Truitt was important to me when I was a young artist at Yaddo. Melissa Meyer was also there that summer [1983]. Erin Lawlor was my studio mate at The Rothko Centre in Latvia. Jose Heerkins was at the Rothko Centre at the same time with us [2016]. Kara Walker was a student when I taught at The Atlanta College of Art and Kara and I showed in the same Atlanta Biennial in 1992. Then there are the other artists—writers and playwrights. Hayden Herrera [biographer of Frieda Kahlo and Arshile Gorky] was my mentor as an art writer. Chris Kraus [I Love Dick] and I were at Yaddo together...I was a close friend of the playwright Ronald Tavel [Theatre of the Ridiculous]. He was a screenwriter for Warhol...I hope I did not confuse things for you in this additional answer.”

Deanna Sirlin - Wonder, 2015. Mixed media on canvas. 127 x 106.7 cm

Brenda Zappitell

“When I first started painting, I was most heavily influenced by Picasso. I was drawn to his use of color and mark making, in particular in “Girl Before A Mirror” (1932). Later on, as I started to paint more in an Abstract Expressionist way, I was more drawn to Joan Mitchell and Willem De Kooning. However, I really started looking at their work after I was painting in this way, not before.

Brenda Zappitell - At the moment, 2017. Flashe and acrylic with cold wax on panel. 127 x 127 cm

Daniel Göttin

In a 2006 interview for Minus Space NY, painter Chris Ashley asked Göttin where he begins as an artist. Göttin replied:

“Art history sometimes pretends that a particular art movement is a complete entity. Using the term “concrete” doesn’t necessarily coincide with the ideologic background of Konkrete Kunst, which was also based on ideas about society and politics. My concern is about an entity that can also include contradictions—a yes and a no, and even a maybe. My starting point is a synthesis of different views or positions at the same time, which to me is a spatial view. It can be obvious or subtle, symmetric or asymmetric or both together, with or without contradiction. It can be rule and deviation together. Some of the earlier works I made were collages related to Kurt Schwitters’ work (Merz), any found material roughly glued onto a piece of cardboard— physical, direct, improvised, accidental, colorful, even Dadaistic. Later, I became interested in Minimal Art, where the artwork is often precisely planned, and perfectly and clearly constructed with a defined use of materials and attention to details. Both movements are important to me, and sometimes I see my work carrying parts of both, corresponding in between those two art historical positions.”

Daniel Göttin - Untitled 2 (Pink), 1992. Acrylic on pavatex. 97 x 58.5 x 3 cm

Gary Paller

“It's quite difficult to understand one's influences, at least for me, as I work largely from intuition and not so much from consciousness. I do think my formative years as an art student at UCLA (BA 74, MFA 77) formed a large part of who I am. In those days UCLA was quite a painter's school with a european/modernist bent. For my first painting class, I was signed up to take the introductory painting class with Richard Diebenkorn (I didn't have any idea who he was), but he and the faculty leadership had some issues, and his position was terminated before the class began. So I studied with Richard Joseph, a new realist, who got me on a solid foundation. It wasn't until six months later, working in a more advanced painting class with Charles Garabedian, that I began to experiment with abstraction. Over the years, the professor who probably had the most influence on me was William Brice. Bill was a very articulate, dignified, generous, thoughtful, funny teacher and friend. As a hard-working prolific artist, he often spoke about the necessity of spending time in the studio thrashing things out and all else is less important. I think of him often and feel so lucky to have known him for a long time. It did take a number of years to separate myself from the idea of being a student and from hearing the sounds of my old professors in my head whenever I painted, but over time I've attained a clear sense of who I am and the responsibility I have to make work that fulfills my vision. I often see aspects of other artists in my work, sometimes feeling that there is really a connection via the same ideas and other times it just seems that any likeness is just superficial. In the end, let the art writers talk about the influences.”

Gary Paller - 9 (2015), 2015. Ink on paper. 37.8 x 29 cm

Tracey Adams

“Michael Mazur (1935-2009) was my printmaking teacher 25 years ago. We first met when I was staying at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown where Michael was offering a week long workshop on printmaking. So many things stand out about our initial connection: Michael was an incredibly empathetic and socially conscious person, not only in his chosen subject matter (drawings and prints of the suffering patients in a psychiatric hospital and animals behind bars in a zoo), but in our one-to-one conversations about life. He taught me to be generous through example as a way to balance the self-absorption of the studio. There wasn’t anything about his technique or the pursuit of an art career that Michael wouldn’t share. Michael spent time in China during the late 80’s and it was through his love of the Asian landscape, I learned to simplify my gestures, to paint with an economy of expression, something I hold very close to my heart. I’ll never forget his sense of humor as he would say to me, “Tracey, this is ungepatchke!”, a Yiddish word meaning too busy and decorated.”

Tracey Adams - Balancing Act 2, 2016. Gouache, graphite and ink on rives. 66 x 50.8 cm

Kyong Lee

Lee cites her first inspiration as a watercolor by Paul Cezanne she saw when she was 11, which left “an unforgettable impression.” She goes on to say:

“My professor, Klaus Stümpel, was close enough to nature that he was almost nicknamed ‘a farmer.’ He recommended I study Frantisek Kupka. I studied his process of being abstracted and his cosmic and mystical perspective. Above all, I learned more than anything about his love of life and his will to keep his thoughts. When I came back to Korea, I thought about Kandinsky again. I think his desire to find objective, universal truth in art is an impossible challenge. I think that art is subjective and personal rather than anything else. When I seek my deepest inner side, I can communicate with the inside of others. I think that art can be a medium connecting the microcosm (human) and the macrocosm (world). Especially, color is the subject of my research. I am looking for the color as an adjective.I like Richter's attitude toward work, his passion for painting, and the spirit of experimentation. Maybe On Kawara? I like his work, which he wanted to prove to be alive, and I want to prove to myself by working every day that I am still alive, emotionally and sensibly. My thoughts on Wassily Kandinsky and many other Minimalist are very different from the general perspective. I do not agree with their artistic viewpoint.”

Kyong Lee - Picture with White, 2008. Acrylic on canvas, 150 x 200 cm

Joanne Freeman

Freeman cites influences that include artists (Ellsworth Kelly, Carla Accardi, Henri Mattise, Paul Feeley, Morris Louis, Barnett Newman, and Andy Warhol), designers (Saul Bass and Roy Kuhlman) and architects (Le Corbusier). But she also speaks about the personal ways in which the culture has influenced her art, as in the following anecdote:

“My dad’s business was signage. Like most urban kids in America I grew up in the back seat of a car, hyper aware of billboards and neon. Attention grabbing direct visual stimulus was part of my psyche. Very recently I was visiting MoMA in New York and was struck again by Barnett Newman’s painting “Vir Heroicus Sublimis” (Man, Heroic and Sublime) (1950-51). My visceral response to its power, immediacy and simplicity was overwhelming, reaffirming my own visual past and identity.”

Joanne Freeman - Covers 13-Purple, 2014. Gouache on Handmade Khadi Paper. 33.1 x 33.1 cm

Brent Hallard

“For me, it was Mondrian. The abstract artists of that time were working more conceptually with abstraction, meaning they liked the idea of it, while Mondrian worked backwards through the mechanics and came out the other end reinventing the picture plane. Not many have done that since. I then got thinking that there must be more ways to get into this strange space that Mondrian had so clear a handle on. [Ellsworth] Kelly and [Robert] Mangold showed other ways to express this ‘other’ space. The experience of these artists gave me room to really appreciate my peers’ endeavors, and to strive towards getting though past the next envelope.”

Brent Hallard - Clouds, 2013. Acrylic on Paper. 25.4 x 35.6 cm

Audrey Stone

“I have loved and thought frequently of the work of Vija Celmins. Her intense observation and calm execution are very inspiring to me. Louise Bourgeois has always inspired me with her determination to express herself in the best medium for her ideas. A More obvious inspiration would be Agnes Martin, I love her confident reserve, and Mark Rothko for the emotional punch his work can pull.”

Audrey Stone - Nb. 61, 2011. Thread, ink and graphite on paper. 43.2 x 35.6 cm

Pierre Auville

Auville mentions the WWII-era German blockhouses that line the French Atlantic coastline. He says, “Most people regard them as ugly scares. In my eyes, their substance was part of the landscape, time merged them with the sand, dunes and sea or with the paintings that street artists laid on them.” In addition, Auville was affected by this experience from his youth:

“At the age of six or seven, I had the privilege to visit the Lascaux Cave in the Southwest of France. It was a shock to me. My parents purchased some facsimiles as souvenirs and I spent hours looking at them in the basement of our house wondering what made the difference between the pictures and the real artwork. The difference was obvious, but I was struggling to figure out its substance. I switched on and off the light, pasted sand on the pictures in an attempt to replicate the substance of the Lascaux paintings, but never reached what I thought was their soul.

Pierre Auville - 4 Carrés, 2014. Pigmented cement on foam panels.  Structural and hanging frame on the back. 120 x 120 x 6 cm

Luuk de Haan

De Haan mentions influences ranging from artists (Piet Mondriaan, Kazimir Malevich, El Lissitzky, Andy Warhol, Ellsworth Kelly) to album designers (Hipgnosis, Peter Saville), to musicians (Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Morton Feldman, Brian Eno). He says:

“In the years before my puberty, Piet Mondriaan’s visual language received a lot of attention in the Netherlands. I was too young to think in terms of art, but Mondriaan was just there, and it was intriguing. And still is! A little later I got to know the Suprematists who, like me, took geometric forms as a starting point. Because my sisters are about five years older than me I discovered (via their boyfriends) early in my teenage years ‘progressive’ music and the accompanying cover design. Not surprisingly, I wanted to become a cover art designer. If I had to choose one visual artist that changed my way of looking at things, it would be Ellsworth Kelly. In the mid 80s the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam purchased “Blue Curve VI” (1982). I went on a regular bases to look at it and studied the visual language. But now, more importantly maybe, I am guided also by my own reaction to art...I began to think about art...the purpose, the meaning, oh my.”

Luuk De Haan - Diaphanous Dance 9, 2013. Ultrachrome HD ink on Hannemuhle paper. 29.7 x 21 cm

Brenda Biondo

“The teachings of Josef Albers influence how I think about putting colors in different contexts. And James Turrell’s skyspaces influenced how I think about putting atmospheric color in different contexts. In general, the overall aesthetics of my Paper Skies and Moving Pictures series are heavily influenced by modern American painters like Georgia O’Keeffe, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Ellsworth Kelly, Frank Stella, etc.”

Brenda Biondo - Paper Sky no. 21 (Large), 2015. Dye sublimation print on aluminium (matter/lustre finish). 83.8 x 96.5 cm

Pierre Muckensturm

“I discovered, more than 20 years ago, the chapel of Ronchamp, a late work of the architect Charles Edouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier. I did not feel, either before or after, such a perception of the correctness of the possibilities between massiveness and elevation. Then began for me this long search, which still feeds me today, aiming to approach the most appropriate relationship between full and empty.”

Pierre Muckensturm - 17.1, 2017. Carborundum and drypoint on copper. Printing on bfk rives paper 250 G. 56 x 56 cm

Jessica Snow

“I would like to talk about the artist who has inspired me for decades, more than any other artist: Matisse, an artist one could study for a lifetime. His work took so many routes because of his experimentation and inquiry into new possibilities with painting. They are beautiful, uplifting, complex, at times lovely and serene, at times difficult and challenging—reflective of how life is.”

Jessica Snow - Fling 1, 2015. Watercolor on paper. 31.8 x 31.8 cm

Susan Cantrick

Rather than list her influences, Cantrick cites the artists whose work interests her the most, whether or not there is any direct link to her own work. Her short list for modern and contemporary:

“Shirley Jaffe, Thomas Noskowzki, Amy Sillman, Charlene von Heyl, Richard Diebenkorn, Juan Uslé, and Per Kirkeby. That is an eclectic and not exhaustive list, but what they have in common is clarity, complexity, and vitality—which are my own preoccupations—expressed through strong color and structure, distinct forms, and a shallow painting space. For pre-modern, Vermeer, Degas, and Manet are at the top of my list, for, again, that trio of attributes: clarity, complexity, vitality. In addition: The tautness in Vermeer’s solid rendering conveys an incredibly palpable stillness—the suspension of time. Degas’ particular way of punctuating his space with “silent,” unanimated areas and/or a strong vertical element promotes prolonged, rhythmic viewing. And there is an immediacy and freshness in Manet which, apart from all the rest of the mastery is, at its best, riveting.”

Susan Cantrick -sbc 141, 2012. Acrylic on linen. 100 x 100 cm

Anne Russinof

“In my case I was not influenced by one artist per se, but rather the artistic community where I grew up in Chicago. There were artists all around in my neighborhood, called the Lincoln Park area or Old Town, and when I showed an interest in drawing as a pre-teen, I was encouraged to go the school affiliated with the wonderful Art Institute of Chicago for figure drawing. There I got to walk directly through the Museum with it’s famous impressionist collection in order to enter the school. I think that basically formed my interest in line, gesture and color.”

Anne Russinof - Look See, 2014. Oil on canvas. 76 x 76 cm

Macyn Bolt

“My artistic lineage is found in artists that combine a "reductive"approach to image/object making with an attention to surface and subtle detail.  Brice Marden, Imi Knoebel, David Novros and Sol Lewitt come to mind. Additionally, the sculptural work of Richard Serra, Carl Andre and Fred Sandback, with their particular use to three-dimensional space, continues to inspire my approach to painting.”

Macyn Bolt - Shadow Boxer (B.2), 2015. Acrylic on canvas. 122 x 96.9 cm

Featured image: Anya Spielman - Constellation of Grief, 2009. Oil on paper. 73.7 x 104.2 cm
By Phillip Barcio