Kenneth Noland's Art

Kenneth Noland's Art

Introduction

A close analysis of Kenneth Noland's artwork indicates that his art could be considered as hailing from Color Field painting or it could be considered an extension of the Post Painterly Abstraction movement. But, Noland's body of art work seems to be quite diverse and holds several different components. After a study and analysis of a number of abstract artists i.e. Albers and Bolotowsky and after working with several second generation abstract artists such as Louis & Frankenthaler, Kenneth Noland developed several different signature styles in the field of abstract imagery. Noland's styles comprised of chevrons, shaped canvases, striped patterns and compromised targets. Similarly, Noland's paintings are often characterized by a minimalist and strikingly simple composition of color and line. In the context, Kenneth Noland's art has had an influence on a number of modern abstract artists. They continue to experiment with the ultra-simplified forms as practiced by Nolan to study human emotions (Judd, 2007, pp. 88).

Key Ideas

Kenneth Noland's artwork seems to be heavily influenced by the work and teachings of Josef Albers. Mr. Josef Albers has worked on human perception and is a firm believer of the existence of a definite relationship between human instincts and colors. Albers proposed his theory and called it as "the interaction of colors”. Noland spent a vast portion of his life experimenting with different forms i.e. chevrons, circles, plaids etc). He also used different colors on the canvas to test people's perceptions. He managed to do so without offering any relationship to his artwork. The artwork of Kenneth Noland has drastically reduced the idea of abstract imagery into its most general form i.e. in the form of lines and geometric shapes (Judd, 2007, pp. 85).

Targets

The target paintings of Noland commonly referred to as “Circles” are believed to be his prized works. In the year 1958, Noland began the application of different colors to the general circle templates placed on a square canvas. Often, it led to the formation of a series of concentric circles in different colors. These colors contrasted quite well when placed on the square canvas (Fried, 1967, pp. 12).

Another vital component of Noland's early Target was painted between 1958 and 1960. The piece was developed from a smeared canvas and had jagged outer edges which framed the inner circles. It portrayed a final burst of infinite colors that were stretching out into the cosmos.

In ...