{"id":1367,"date":"2021-05-06T17:16:37","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T17:16:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/lcbates\/?page_id=1367"},"modified":"2021-05-07T17:10:37","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T17:10:37","slug":"abbott-meader","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/lcbates\/abbott-meader\/","title":{"rendered":"Abbott Meader"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Abbott Meader, Ledges\/The Magdalene at Golgotha<\/em>, graphite on paper under glass, 30 x 35 in., 1979.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Artist’s Statement<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is clearly a pencil drawing, and I wanted viewers to remain aware of that. The pencil markings are not smoothed together or blended in any manner. It is also a tonal drawing without color\u2014not very \u201crealistic\u201d in these regards. When you step in closely, you see that it is made up of distinct lines: some short, some long, some light, some dark. They are isolated at times and in other areas they are overlapping and piled up in ways to create a graduating light and dark that yields a suggestion of mass. Then, if you step back three or four feet, the lines blend in the eye and the image solidifies a bit further. It seems more three dimensional. Toward the lower right there is an area that has hardly developed past a few simple lines\u2014the way the drawing began\u2014and throughout there are more and less illusionistic expressions of mass. There is a stone in the upper right that should fall, or is falling, but it is frozen in time. The \u201cskull\u201d is a gestalt found high up. Mary is easily found lower down. The drawing is an invention, and we can probably agree that it is made up of pencil marks. But the content, the meaning? That is for each viewer to decide\u2014or not. There is nothing written in stone here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Abbott Meader, Western Interior and the Melting of the Glaciers<\/em>, oil on canvas, 29 x 29 in., 2006\u201312.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Artist’s Statement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you put four dots down in a certain regular placement you will see the dots, but a square will also \u201cappear.\u201d That is the Gestalt phenomenon\u2014something new, more, and different than the mere sum of its parts. Our lives are experiencing this continually. It\u2019s something we create. Grouping, building larger cohesive structures . . . Making order out of raw perception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based upon the above, would this painting be some sort of an anti-gestalt? So many parts that don’t connect; so many contradictions in the perceived space; impossibilities that lead toward chaos? And yet it struggles\u2014that is, you<\/em> struggle\u2014to make the aggressive clutter into a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, the upper area, if isolated, would essentially work as a traditional cohesive image. But below, it all falls, flows, and drips into an \u201cinterior\u201d of chaotic spaces\u2014a claustrophobic region of mangled, Western visual art perspective projections\u2014a cacophony of contradictions and trickery that are an assault upon logic. Yet it is also just a painting\u2014a thing\u2014and as such it is a cohesive whole. You can walk around in it visually and look at various parts. In fact, you can imagine cropping down into details that would work as orderly traditional images. Nice little abstractions. It\u2019s the major lines defining this \u201cWestern Interior\u201d that are at the root of the confusion. And what can we do about that? Is it a funhouse or a nightmare? You tell me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RETURN TO GALLERY<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Artist’s Statement This is clearly a pencil drawing, and I wanted viewers to remain aware of that. The pencil markings are not smoothed together or blended in any manner. It is also a tonal drawing without color\u2014not very \u201crealistic\u201d in these regards. When you step in closely, you see that it is made up of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9148,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/lcbates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1367"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/lcbates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/lcbates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/lcbates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/lcbates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1367"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/lcbates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1804,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/lcbates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1367\/revisions\/1804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/lcbates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}