Thursday, December 31, 2015

Mondrian on Monopoly

Acrylic on gessoed birch panel, 10 x 12''
painting #236, 2015

I've mentioned before that the Piet Mondrian's grid like paintings reminds me of the Monopoly board game. While visiting Philadelphia with my family this past October and doing some sightseeing, we unexpectedly came across the Municipal Service Building Plaza right next to the JFK Plaza (Love Park) which features gigantic game pieces from Sorry, Monopoly, Chess, Dominoes and Bingo. This 1996 art installation is appropriately named ''Your Move'' and is the brainchild of artists Daniel Martinez, Renée Petropoulis and Roger White. Upon seeing it, the whole narrative for this painting came to me. Little did I know that two days later, I would see a Piet Mondrian at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. 



We just returned from a four day Christmas Getaway Vacation in New York City and during our visit to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), we got to see a whole wall of Mondrian's grid paintings. The painting shown below (lower left) entitled ''Broadway Boogie Woogie'', oil on canvas, 1942-43 was painted after Piet Mondrian moved to New York City to escape WWII. It was influenced by boogie-woogie music. For a great sample click HERE.



This painting was SOLD upon posting it on social media to a collector living in the Netherlands, the native land of Mondrian, how appropriate.

This is my last post for 2015. Thanking you all for checking out my art blog throughout the year and to the patrons who acquired some of my artwork. May 2016 bring you much contentment, happiness and peace.  

-SOLD