CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
FORM/SURFACE
An abstract submitted in partial satisfaction of the
requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in
Art
by
Lucy Anderson
January,
1981
The Abstract of Lucy Anderson is approved:
Bruce Everett
Tom Fricano
California State University, Northridge
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
i
TITLE PAGE
APPROVAL PAGE
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
iii
iv
ABSTRACT
DOCUMENTATION OF MASTER'S EXHIBIT
vii
Untitled 22
viii
Untitled 24
ix
Untitled 26
X
Untitled 27
xi
Untitled 28
xii
Untitled 29
xiii
JO
xiv
Untitled
iii
.ABSTRACT
FORM/SURFACE
by
Lucy Anderson
Master of Arts in Fine Arts
The self-referential nature of abstract painting, its
utter lack of need to be about anything except its own surface, may be equated with our century's questioning of supposedly absolute physical yardsticks.
Scientists have come
around to the view that they cannot study nature, only t heir
perceptions of it.
"Method and object can no longer be sepa-
rated," wrote Werner Heisenberg, the physicist, who could as
well have been discussing form and content.
An artist today reflects society and its preoccupations,
just as his predecessors did.
He realizes the lack of abso-
lutes in science, philosophy, mathematics .
He is aware of
tensions resulting from polarities such as observation/ imagi-
iv
nation, society/individual, irrationality/logic, emotion/
reason.
true?
So old questions still apply:
What can we know for certain?
What is absolutely
What is really here?
Like science, art is the creation of new contexts.
Except it does not end there.
The first experience of art
had to be that it was titual magic, the mysterious domain
of priestly shamans.
So, at a time when the universe is
perceived as a state of mind rather than a great machine,
formal abstraction adds to the difficulty by using a coded
visual language.
In my work the use of mathematically related devices
such as rectangles within the canvas or fractional division
of the surface serves as a metaphor for the laws operating
within the universe.
Mathematically derived structures or
grids used in underpainting provide the network against
which logical or chaotic order can be played.
Once the basic proportions and compositions are worked
out in preliminary sketches, I feel free to make intuitive
choices as to the marks that will be made and the colors to
be used in subsequent layers.
There is no conscious deci-
sion made as to mood or ambience the work will project.
In-
stead there is a decision to maintain a balance between intuitive feeling and the direction the work itself demands
that it take.
In spite of the effort never to make feelings
the uppermost consideration, when completed each painting
shows the mark of ideas and experiences that have profoundly
v
affected me at various times.
Layers of paint can be equated with the passage of
time or archeological layers documenting ancient cultures.
Color has been affected by the dirt and detritus of the urban east coast, the ruins of Pompeii, the cliff dwellings
of Southwestern Indians, and the natural spectacle of the
desert.
Scraped or flayed surfaces mirror the effects dis-
played by archeological artifacts.
Accidental marks sug-
gest natural or atmospheric phenomena.
Transparent or
pierced surfaces allow underlayers to be revealed.
Spontaneous accidental gestures focus on a preoccupation with art about art, cognitive and perceptual experiences and the achievement of an integrated or holistic surface.
A respect for the honesty
of materials developed
du~
ring the conception and execution of these works, taking the
form of paint applied so that it resembles little more than
paint of a surface; the re-affirmation of the rectangular
support and its two dimensional plane; the surface which becomes an accretion of the incidents that took place on it;
and color used for its visual properties.
These become the
vehicles for these self-referential qualities, the melding
of form and content.
Circumscribing painting to its own attributes increases
the probablility of truth in the universe projected.
vi
DOCUMENTATION OF MASTER'S EXHIBIT
November 16-21, 1980
Gallery II, Fine Arts Building
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
Lucy Anderson
vii
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UNTITLED 24~ 1979--Acrylic pigments, modelling paste, medium, on canvas.
Two panels,
50
x JO inches over all.
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UNTITLED 26, 1979--Acrylic pigments, modelling paste, medium on canvas.
Two panels 40 x 48 inches each.
Total dimension 80 x 48 inches.
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1-'·
UNTITLED 27, 1980--Acrylic pigments, mediums on canvas.
40 x 60 inches each.
Total dimension 120 x 60 inches.
Three panels
:X:
I-'·
I-'·
UNTITLED 28, 1980--Acrylic pigment, modelling paste, mediums on canvas.
Four panels 40 x 44 inches each.
Total dimension 160 x 40 inches.
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1-'·
......
1-'·
UNTITLED 29, 1980--Acrylic pigments, mediums on canvas.
48 x 54 inches each.
Total dimension 96 x
54
inches.
Two panels
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1-'·
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UNTITLED 30, 1980--Acrylic pigments and medium on canvas.
nels, 40 x 60 inches each.
Three pa-
Total dimension 120 x 60 inches.