.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Dynamic, provocative, and lively; the colors in Milton Resnick’s Show resonates with painterly energy. Different from many of his monochromatic works, Show has diversity by employing a spectrum of colors as Resnick desired an overall equality for his works. He created paintings without one, uniform center of attention, with no one area is more important than the other. There are reds, blues, yellows, greens, oranges, purples, and whites, which all take different shapes, forms, and sizes. One could see water or fire, a grassy field or a fiery volcano, cold snow or hot sun, light or darkness. There is no one way to see Show, and thus its fate lies in the eye of the beholder. The viewer can choose what he or she wants to see. As Milton Resnick himself said, “The ‘seeing’ can be so complex that the possibilities for painting are endless” (M. Resnick, quoted in Gary Garrels, Robert Ryman, exhibition catalogue Dia Art Foundation, New York, 1988, p. 24).
Milton Resnick painted Show at the pinnacle of his career. Prior to its creation in 1957, Art News published an article on Resnick which boosted his reputation worldwide. Consequently, he started to gain widespread recognition for his work and two years later he moved into a larger studio loft on New York’s famed Broadway. This enabled him to work on a much grander scale and it was this move that enabled him to embark on a series of large canvases, of which Show is a striking example. This new found energy meant that for a prolonged period Resnick routinely painted every day and night. Throughout his career, Resnick yearned for the ability to evoke raw emotion through paint and it was during this period that Resnick finally felt that he accomplished this, an emotion which is evident in Show.
Milton Resnick’s artistic vision exemplifies the same vision that fueled other post-war artists and members of the Abstract Expressionist movement. Resnick’s work stands alongside that of Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning (who was once Resnick’s neighbor). More so, the abstraction and fluidity of Show illustrate core pillars of abstract expressionism as he attempted to capture the essence of ideas and concepts in his works in order to cleanse the mind.
Milton Resnick painted Show at the pinnacle of his career. Prior to its creation in 1957, Art News published an article on Resnick which boosted his reputation worldwide. Consequently, he started to gain widespread recognition for his work and two years later he moved into a larger studio loft on New York’s famed Broadway. This enabled him to work on a much grander scale and it was this move that enabled him to embark on a series of large canvases, of which Show is a striking example. This new found energy meant that for a prolonged period Resnick routinely painted every day and night. Throughout his career, Resnick yearned for the ability to evoke raw emotion through paint and it was during this period that Resnick finally felt that he accomplished this, an emotion which is evident in Show.
Milton Resnick’s artistic vision exemplifies the same vision that fueled other post-war artists and members of the Abstract Expressionist movement. Resnick’s work stands alongside that of Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning (who was once Resnick’s neighbor). More so, the abstraction and fluidity of Show illustrate core pillars of abstract expressionism as he attempted to capture the essence of ideas and concepts in his works in order to cleanse the mind.