Featured Gene: Contemporary Color Fields
“Contemporary Color Fields” denotes contemporary works that resemble 1950s and 60s Color Field painting. The gene does not refer to a specific movement or technique, but rather captures abstract artworks - mostly paintings - that emphasize washes, swathes, or bands of undifferentiated color.
An outgrowth of the Abstract Expressionism that dominated the 1950s, Color Field painting turned largely away from gesture and process, instead focusing on the visual beauty achieved by the subtle interplay of fields and shapes of color. Helen Frankenthaler was a major pioneer with her stain painting technique, along with Kenneth Noland, Barnett Newman, Jules Olitski, Morris Louis, and Larry Poons. Interestingly, although Mark Rothko is often thought of as the Color Field painter (and is clearly aligned with the movement), he rejected the label:
“I’m not an abstractionist. I’m not interested in the relationship of color or form or anything else. I’m interested only in expressing basic human emotions: tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on.”
