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

Mondrian Tumbler

Acrylic on gessoed birch panel, 11 x 14"

Painting #217, 2013

Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) was a Dutch-born artist who is mostly recognized as one of the pioneers of Modern Art and is the epitome of the abstract painter. He is one of those artists whose entire body of work could be described as transient. Evolving from representational to non representational forms of art. Initially starting out with Impressionism, Pointillism, Fauvism, Post-Impressionism, Cubism then transitioning to more abstract forms of art. He is a major contributor to the Dutch De Stijl or Neoplasticism art movement. He is most celebrated for his grid-like paintings of vertical and horizontal black lines; using the primary colours, red, yellow and blue and placing them in contrast to the non-colours black, white and grey. He spent much of his professional life abroad in Paris, London and New York City. 

As mentioned in the previous post, this past January, my wife and I travelled to New York City for a 4-day winter getaway. During our previous past three visits to the Big Apple, we had always visited the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). This time around, we only had time for a quick stop at the MOMA Store to browse through their art book selection. Upon entering, I saw these Mondrian Tumblers on a shelf which I simply could not resist. They are made exclusively for the museum. The composition for this painting needed to remain minimalistic and simple. My love of painting with the primary colours and glass made it an easy decision to pay homage to this artist. When ever I see a Monopoly Game board, I think of Mondrian.

photo from our visit to the MOMA in Oct. 2010.

Interesting trivia- During the 1920's in Paris, Mondrian became a very accomplished ballroom dancer. 

This painting will be included in the upcoming group exhibition, The Still Life at the Elliott Fouts Gallery, October 5-31, 2013.

Elliott Fouts Gallery  

1831 P. Street Sacramento, California, USA , 95811
Phone (916) 736-1429
e-mail: efgallery@sbcglobal.net
-SOLD