Post Mortems
The news is filled today with recalling the horrors of the past year and the deaths of people who some how or other had become meaningful to large numbers of people.
Of course, the most recent and upsetting for many was the assassination this week of Benazir Bhutto. While she had many followers in Pakistan, she was also held in high esteem by many, many people around the world. Her murder, while predictable, was no less tragic.
The one death that surprised and effected me most was the death of one of my favorite artists. Her name is Elizabeth Murray and she was a wonderful painter. She died in August. Murray cut her canvases into the shapes of her paintings and so they were both paintings and sculptures.
I first came upon her work on a gallery hop in Soho in 1986. I had a route that I took and galleries I visited on a monthly basis. I had not heard of her or seen her work prior to walking into the gallery that day. As I entered the gallery I walked up to a large painting laying on a tilt on the floor. As a fan of abstract expressionism I was accustomed to art not present on a square or rectangular painting surface. Artists had for many years been pushing the envelope on what is suitable for painting.
I don't even remember which painting it was. It was large. It was a cut-out canvas in an organic shape. It was colorful and strong. I got a chill and teared as I stood before it and stared. I went through the exhibit 2 or 3 times. I was excited by her work. I felt like the cells in my body had been electrified and were tingling.
I've had that reaction to 2 painters. Elizabeth Murray and Vincent van Gogh. Early in the eighties I stood before van Gogh's "Starry Night" at MOMA and wept like a fool. I was so moved by that painting.
But now Elizabeth Murray is gone, at age 66, taken by cancer. It's a loss for those of us touched by her work.
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