::: Wilbur M Reeling - Inspirations :::

Abstract Art is not meant to be easy art to understand … or paint. When I was introduced to it in the 50`s I’ll have to admit that I didn’t understand it. As a student of Abstract Art in the mid-sixties, the artist and student of Hans Hoffman, Lila Katzen, showed me the light and was my abstract mentor.

My art is considered Abstract Art in the 3rd generation. The paintings are of deep cerebral thinking to attain an architectural like structure and foundation as my platform. This platform brings heightened visual satisfaction using the relationships of shapes, line, contrast and color to balance its highest element of definition, theory, intrinsic value and the desirable importance the art of deep thinking brings to the paintings aesthetics. My medium preference is of visual transparency, translucency, simultaneously concealing using opaque techniques. An example is the “Black Square”.

There are two famous Black Square paintings, (to me differ little save the size having seen the original art). Both the originator, Kazimir Malevich in 1913 (Black Square, 41 3/4 x 41 7/8 inches) and 2nd generation, Ad Reinhardt in 1963 (titled his Abstract Painting, 60 x 60 inches) got there before me. I, as 3rd generation, was wondering what a 2011, Black Square should look like? I also painted a smaller contemporary 2011 version of Black Square, 18 ½ x 18 ½ inches on 30 x 22 inch Fabriano cp 640 gsm paper. Mine is a black square but, complicated to view, as I have used dozens of modern black paints, black inks & mediums that also can reflect subtle tones of varied blacks and reflection. My black square took more than 50 +hours to paint and needs little explaining, whereas the other two black squares took a fraction of the time to paint and the artists have had to explain theirs for a lifetime, until the day they died! ..."there's a whole different thing happening here. Theirs are flat – yours is alive. Theirs are simplistic, yours is complex. Malevich was a hundred years ago, yours is last week"... Bodkin

A young teen toured my studio years ago and told me his Mom explained that abstract painters just painted little things with real big brushes.. Hence, Abstraction. The other young person’s parents told them these big paintings he was seeing was only to cover a large damaged space on the wall and really was not art, per se!

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Kazimir Malevich 1913

"When, in the year 1913, in my desperate attempt to free art from the ballast of objectivity, I took refuge in the square form and exhibited a picture which consisted of nothing more than a black square on a white field"

Ad Reinhardt 1963

Three distinct shades of black, which become visible only after prolonged looking. “There is a black which is old and a black which is fresh. Lustrous black and dull black, black in sunlight and black in shadow.”

Wilbur M. Reeling 2011

2011 Black Square should look like there's a whole different thing happening. Theirs are flat – mine is alive. Theirs are simplistic, mine is complex. Kazimir was a hundred years ago, mine is last week, mine is complicated to view with dozens of modern black paints, black inks & mediums with subtle black tones reflecting

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Untitled (bread molding) WOLS, was the pseudonym of *Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze*	WOLS, Rotes Brotform, 2011, by Wilbur M. Reeling Pigmented ink, India Ink , Ziller White ink, lac varnish & pure red pigment on canvas, 24 x 24 inches
This painting is inspired by an artist named “WOLS”. Wols, is the pseudonym of *Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze* who had issues with life and art and recognition during his life time -- He was also a still photographer andÂ a poor starving artist. He frequently ate from trash cans and food he had been using as forms or models, and had been hospitalized with food poisoning -- He died the day after being released from the hospital from ironically eating rotted food from "FOOD POISONING"Â Wols, was the pseudonym of Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze (May 27, 1913- September 1, 1951) The title & words “WOLS Rotes Brotform”, that I used translated from German to mean "Rotting Red Bread Mold" that is what inspired me from an untitled painting he did of a rotting, moldy slice of bread that he had been using as subject matter .... then likely ate!!Â He was one of the influential painters of the Tachisme movement. Noted for his etchings and for use of stains (taches) of colour dabbed onto the canvas,as exampled by his painting Composition c. 1950. Although unrecognized in his lifetime he pioneered a new style of expressive abstraction. The profound quotation about art... "to see,it is not necessary to know anything,...except how to see"... is attributed to WOLS .

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On White II, (1923) by Wassily Kandinsky	Breakthrough #1, (1998) by Wilbur M. Reeling
I became interested in the early works of the Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky, who was the creator of the first modern abstract paintings. (see above comparison of works) Wassily Kandinsky was an influential Russian painter and creator of the art movement called Der Blaue Reiters (The Blue Riders) Wassily Kandinsky formed the group in response to the rejection of his painting Last Judgement from an exhibition in Munich. Der Blaue Reiter movement lacked a central artistic manifesto, but was centered around Kandinsky and Marc. Paul Klee was also involved. In 1903, Wassily Kandinsky, Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) was also a group of protest artists from the Neue KÃ¼nstlervereinigung MÃ¼nchen in Munich, Germany. Der Blaue Reiter was a German protest movement lasting from 1911 to 1914, fundamental to Expressionism. Kandinsky's painting was "rejected" in an exhibition which caused a stir and formed the protest-group of other famous fauvists calling themselves "the blue riders". The last judgment, (1912) by Wassily Kandinsky I took the Kandinsky, Blue Rider, one step farther and created my own new abstract impressionist version of it. As with like-minded artists ... I chose to emphasize blue color and abstract movement of the rider on horseback at a full gallop as my abstract subject matter and not the landscape.
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Der Blaue Reiter, (1903) by Wassily Kandinsky	Der Neue Blaue Reiter 2010, 2010, by Wilbur M. Reeling Pigmented ink and watercolor on canvas, 38 x 59 inches (inspiration Wassily Kandinskyâ€™s 1903 painting, The Blue Rider)


Click image to see "higher detail" Entartung in Sepiida Cuttlefish Ink No.2, 2011, by Wilbur M. Reeling Sepiida Cuttlefish Ink, India & Pigmented ink, W&N watercolor on Fabriano rp 300 gsm paper 42 x 55 inches (influenced by Brownian Motion Theory) Mark Tobey (December 11, 1890 â€“ April 24, 1976) Tobey was mostly self-taught and he is the most noted among the mystical painters of the Northwest and we share an interest in physics, philosophy and Eastern religions in our works -- Tobey inspired my INDIGO SERIES. These "Paintings on Paper" on indigo paper were completed in 2010, using white oil stick, watercolor, India ink on Fabriano 160 gsm, Indigo paper 39 x 27.5 inches. Tobey is most famous for his creation of so-called "white writing" - an overlay of white or light-colored calligraphic symbols on an abstract field which is often itself composed of thousands of small and interwoven brush strokes. This method, in turn, gave rise to the type of "all-over" painting style made most famous by Jackson Pollock, another American painter to whom Tobey's work and mine are often compared. Tobey’s work is also defined as creating a vibratory space with the multiple degrees of mobility obtained by the "Brownian Movement" (above Entartung example) ;of a light brush on a bottom with the dense tonalities. The series of “Broadway” realized at that time has a historical value of reference today. It precedes a new dimension of the pictorial vision, that of contemplation in the action.
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"Hidden Laughter" 1950, by Mark Tobey gouache and graphite on paper laid down on panel 20 x 27 3/8 inches	INDIGO SERIES w/indigo white & black, 2010, by Wilbur M. Reeling White oil stick, watercolor, India ink on Fabriano Indigo paper 160 gsm, 39 x 27.5 inches my inspiration Mark Tobey's work ..."Hidden Laughter"...
His work is inspired by a personal belief system that suggests Oriental influences and reference to Tobey's involvement in the Bahaâ€™i Faith. Mark Tobey is most famous for his creation below of so-called "white writing" - an overlay of white or light-colored calligraphic symbols on an abstract field which is often itself composed of thousands of small and interwoven brush strokes.

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Wilbur M. Reeling, abstract expressionist