Agnes Martin
Innocent Love, 2001
Acrylic and pencil on canvas
152,4 × 152,4 cm
Sheer, convulsing veneers of illusory color render the ‘Innocent Love’ truly at the height of the artist’s mature practice. The work creates a sense of tranquil and peaceful ambiance that is both beautiful and entrancing.
“When I think of art I think of beauty. Beauty is the mystery of life. It is not in the eye it is in the mind. In our minds there is an awareness of perfection.”
The influence of the thirty years that Martin spent in the wide, open planes of Taos, New Mexico, is readily felt in both the open horizontal bands of ‘Innocent Love’ and the intellectual framework through which the work was conceived. It is filled with the warm color of a southern sunset and has a singular sophistication with which the artist orchestrates gesture, material, and technique in painting a plane of limitless emotive potency. This masterful balance between visual lyricism and geometric austerity distinguishes Martin as a leading figure of the post-war art canon.
“I want to draw that quality of response from people who leave themselves behind, often experienced in nature, an experience of simply joy… My paintings are about merging, about formlessness… A world without objects, without interruption.”
Publications:
Catalogue Raisonné Number: 2001.026. Published digitally by Artifex Press.
