SPECIMENS: THE EARLY ABSTRACTIONS — An Exhibition by Ivi Avellana-Cosio

• Main Author: Avellana-Cosio, Ivi
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2018
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/paha/vol8/iss1/13; https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/paha/article/1276/viewcontent/PAHA_208.1_2013_20Art_20Folio_20__20Cosio.pdf
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

Excerpt: This is the second in a series of retrospective exhibitions entitled JOURNEY: ART: 50 which marks my 50 years of artmaking. The first one earlier this year entitled Work on Paper consisted of fine prints, nudes and flowers in pen-and-ink and pastel, and photographs, all produced in the period from 1967 to the 2000s. This time, SPECIMENS: The Early Abstractions showcases works done in the 1970s and ‘80s when I was enamored by abstraction, the kind generally known as “pure,” especially as done by the first generation of the famous New York School of artists and poets. My idols were the likes of the incomparable Mark Rothko with his color fields, Robert Motherwell, Clyfford Still, and later on, the abstract expressionists Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Jasper Johns, as also the famous Chinese-French painter/calligrapher Zao Wu-Ki. One may wonder: what is the point