​ There is an idea that history is like a pendulum—it swings from one extreme to the other while rarely stopping in between. Art has undergone many pendulum swings in its time—one of the most significant swings was the transformation from purely realistic, representational art to entirely non-objective art. I feel that contemporary artists are finally able to find a space in between those two extremes, and I found that at my visit to the Hunter those were the pieces that I connected to the most.  Despite my instant connection to pieces that incorporated aspects of abstraction or non-objection with a more realistic style, I also found specific pieces that used pure realism or non-objection that were also fascinating to me. 

For example, George Cress's painting, I-75, was extremely interesting to me. The dynamic and organic brush strokes that Cress uses is fascinating—an approach that is difficult to use in realistic art to such a striking degree due to the difficulty of keeping a realistic portrayal with such organic, overwhelming marks. His use of color is also striking due to the combination of vibrant, highly saturated hues. He subtly keeps these colors under control by using a version of a limited palate despite all of the colors. Cress keeps the colors under control by using mostly highly saturated yellows, reds, blues and greens.

George Cress, 1-75, 1970, acrylic on canvas, photographed in situ at the Hunter Museum of American Art

The careful separation of colors also keeps this piece from becoming a nonsensical combination of colors or visually mixing to a dull brown. When viewing this painting I loved the dynamic sense it captures with every color, mark, and the general composition—what kept me studying it longer was the surprising sense of depth, control, and design one continually discovers in it even though it first appears to be a random assortment of marks and color.

On the other side of the style spectrum sits Bo Bartlett's, The Babysitter. This painting has a sense of energy created by the overall style of the piece, realism covered with a soft, glowing light, paired with its provocative, high-tension content. It is interesting to compare to Cress's piece—both hold a strong sense of energy or tension but these energies are created by completely different formal decisions and styles. What captivated me most about this piece was the contrast of the high tension between girl—her intense, almost condescending glare and the questionable content she suggests—with the overall soft, inviting feel of the painting. Also like Cress's painting, this painting reveals more layers the longer you study it—you discover seemingly inviting scene is made out of mostly contrasting reds and greens that only add to the tension, note the clothing of the girl to resemble a school uniform, and notice details such as her awkwardly placed feet and clenched together knees. 

Bo Bartlett, The Babysitter, 1999, oil on linen, photographed in situ at the Hunter Museum of American Art

Although both of these pieces kept me studying them for several minutes, my favorites, and not surprisingly most similar to my own style, were the pieces that combined abstraction, non-objection, and realism to create an extremely interesting and dynamic final composition. For example the realistic figures in Hung Liu's Pullman interacting with the compositionally fascinating background that uses abstraction and a strong sense of negative space.

Hung Liu, Pullman, 2004, oil on canvas, photographed in situ at the Hunter Museum of American Art

Besides works that combined realism with non-objection the pieces that drew in my attention were pieces that, intentionally or unintentionally, especially engaged the viewer. For example, the enormous pieces like Pullman that towered over you. There were a surprisingly large number of works that somehow engaged the viewer's own reflection in the Hunter this visit. These included several works with mirrors or shiny, reflective surfaces as well as a few that unexpectedly and unintentionally involved the viewer's reflection.

For example in Robert Motherwell's piece, Gesture 1, the dark black of the ink marks paired with the glass of the frame created an unintentional interactive and reflective aspect to the work.

All in all I thoroughly enjoyed the combination of all the different styles I found at the Hunter and remembered how striking the combination of representational and non-objective can be—a useful observation to apply to my own work.

Lydia Fogo

Robert Motherwell, Gesture 1, 1976, color, sugarlift, aquatint, photographed in situ at the Hunter Museum of American A