Simplicity takes balls. For instance, the level of confidence used to create Ada and Alex. This double self portrait shows painting minimalism at its post 70s peak. It was 1980. Women wore shoulder padded power suits and scrunchies. Still, artists like Alex Katz prove that restraint flourished too. In fact, his career took off thanks to paintings such as this one. Like many minimalists, Katz threw a lot away. He destroyed at least a thousand paintings in search of his signature style.
I find joy in the distinctive Katz manner. He marries realism with abstraction. It's not enough to call his paintings simple - reductive works better. Katz reduces his subject down to fundamental elements. He gives us only enough for recognition. Viewers know who this is with the fewest possible lines. The way he pushes this piece down to its foundation creates an almost abstract quality. It's incredible how the couple seem both real and ideal all at once.
That combination heightens the meaning for Ada and Alex. It's not a mere portrait of two people. There's also a marriage here. Much like how this piece presents a world of both realism and idealism - so do partnerships. When we enter relationships there's an ideal in our head. It's how we think it should be. But our actual interactions are the more profound part of human connection. They rarely match the ideal in our head. Katz reminds me of this with the painting Ada and Alex.
His composition of the pairing puts Ada in front. She's even shielding part of him. Her figure eclipses his. With this choice, Katz shows us Ada's importance.
Learn about this and more masterpieces with a click through to LadyKflo's site.
[ Ссылка ]
Listen to the LadyKflo podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
Checkout her socials too:
[ Ссылка ]
[ Ссылка ]
[ Ссылка ]
[ Ссылка ]
