Solo Shows

Ellsworth Kelly rocks at the Tate Modern

In The Guardian, Jonathan Jones wonders why gallery goers aren’t blown away. “If Kelly makes you see the sheer beauty of minimalism – as opposed to the ready-made conceptualism it is so often seen as a dumb vessel of – he also connects contemporary, living art with the heritage of Matisse. This makes him one of the most important artists alive, and Tate Modern should maintain this beautiful display of his work as a permanent exhibit. …Standing in front of Kelly’s Broadway, as colour moves towards me in a fiery surge, I feel like a newborn child, seeing the world for the first time. Because abstract can’t be explained away, it can’t be exhausted. It is always new.”

One Comment

  1. Henry Hill
    May 31, 2007 at 3:13 pm

    Fascinating and duly appreciative piece. I’m a great admirer of Kelly’s work, and have come to see its primal dynamic to be catching the eye in a way that triggers and perpetuates aesthetic contemplation. His titles can provide oblique prompts as to what direction one’s thoughts might go, but they are mere suggestions. In any case, many of his pieces are untitled, but their inaugural visual effect is usually so stunning and prepossessing that the absence of any intellectual suggestion makes the ensuing meditation all the more liberating rather than that much more laborious. The ojbect itself becomes a richer source than any notional referent.

    Henry Hill
    New England

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