CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
STRUCTURE AND SURFACE
,,
· An abstract submitted in partial satisfaction of the
requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in
Art
by
Theron James Kelley
June •
1977
Pe~~r Plagens
California State University, Northridge
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract
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Appendix of photographs
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ABSTRACT
STRUCTURE AND SURFACE
by
Theron James Kelley
Master of Arts in Art
The Thesis consisted of a painting show held at
Gallery II, in the Fine Arts Building at California State
University, Northridge, from April 16th to April 22nd,
197'7.
Four small paintings on paper and seven large ones
on canvas were shown for a total of eleven works.
Of the
four paper paintings, all were 22" X JO", but one was made
with ink, colored pencil and air brush, and the other three
were oil-base enamel.
Of the seven large paintings, one
was 72" X 90" on unstretched canvas, painted with flat
acrylic house paint; one was a 60" X 84" stretched canvas
done with oil-base enamels; and the other five were all
60" X 72" stretched canvases painted with clear Rhoplex
mixed with a variety of pigments, including ink, house
paint, acrylic tube paint and tempera.
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The show was intended to demonstrate an evolutionary
processr a record of artistic development over a two year
period.
The paintings progressed chronologically from a
concern with primarily linear structures to a concern with
primarily surface, but both concerns were in the service of
the structuring of space.
The paintings are intended to
structure space in such a way as to create an interplay
between the flat, two-dimensional quality of the actual
picture plane, and the possibility of the three-dimensional
illusion of depth beyond the picture plane.
Inotherwords,
they create tension between the actual surface and the implied space.
Although the work is mostly about spacial
tensions, such considerations are created by the interaction and intersection of linear, color, shape and textural
systems, and as those systems evolve and interact differently. the spacial tensions change.
The show demonstrated
how an interplay between linear structure and surface concerns can be utilized to either flatten or deepen the
picture plane.
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Rhoplex on
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canvas~
6on X 72", 1977
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Oil on canvas, 60" X 84", 1977
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Oil on
paper~
22" X JO", 1977
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Oil on
paper~
22" X JO", 1977
Oil on paper, 22" X
JO"~
1977
Rhoplex on canvas~ 60" X 84'', 1977
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Rhoplex on canvas, 60" X 72", 1977
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Rhoplex on canvas» 60" X 72", 1977
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