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This show presents a very interesting contrast. The selection of the work from both periods is so different that at first glance you might think you are viewing a two-person exhibition. Schueler�s work from the fifties is emotional and dramatically charged. With the earlier pieces the paint is harshly dense and you can see Clifford Still�s influence. As they progress through the decade, however, Schueler finds his own style as the paint becomes thinner and is handled more loosely. Even so, the high drama is even more intensified and somehow more authentic like a Turner landscape; another of Schueler�s admitted influences. What is so interesting about this work is how such a great a passion, of the sort usually found in more classical painting, is expressed in non-representational work. Schueler magnificently gets the same depth of feeling without relying on religious or mythological narrative. |
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By contrast the paintings from the 70s are far more cerebral and reductive. It�s as though after that 12 year gap, Schueler needed a solid compositional structure to get his painting chops back again. This work somewhat has the same ephemeral paint handling qualities but the high drama is missing. Instead the forms directly reference landscapes (or perhaps Rothko�s paintings from about the same time). Some other |
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Jon Schueler, Sahara III, 1973, oil on canvas, 76 x 69 in |
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Jon Schueler, La Soleil, 1958, oil on canvas, 72 x 67 in |
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similarities are recognizable such as the general contrast (albeit more segregated) and the large expanses. But these paintings are stiff and conservative compared to the earlier work and what followed after this period when Schueler returned to New York. |
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The one thing that has remained constant in Schueler�s work from the beginning to the end is his subject matter, which is the sky as abstract landscape. The artist credits his wartime flying experiences as initializing his interest in the forms found in the atmosphere, particular clouds and the multitudinous and dynamic forms they create. Schueler never abandoned this theme no matter |
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Jon Schueler, Silver Wing On Grey, 1980, oil on canvas, 44 x 65 in |
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