Abstraction and Empathy 

Gwenn Thomas - Nancy Haynes - Barbara Hatfield -
Jan Meissner 

Curated by Carl E. Hazlewood

on view: March 16 – April 21, 2013
opening reception: saturday, march 16, 5:30-8pm

“The will to abstraction is to be understood as one of the two aesthetic impulses known to human culture, the other, of course, being the urge to empathy, which manifests itself in the naturalistic depiction of the observable world.” — Wilhelm Worringer, 1908 

It has been over one hundred years since Wilhelm Worringer wrote his classic doctoral thesis concerning how one may approach the differing perceptual qualities of the new modern art. Things have gotten quite complex in the time since then. Definitions now often slip-slide in indeterminate ways. Abstraction may now have elements of empathy. And ostensible ‘reality’ based art and even photography can be emotionally quite cool.  

While the four artists in this exhibition do not illustrate any particular theory, the theme suggests how Worringer’s original thesis still resonates even as it gives way to the pressures and variousness of contemporary artistic production.  Individually, work by Barbara Hatfield, Nancy Haynes, Jan Meissner, and Gwenn Thomas go from empathic to objective, from photographic ‘realness’ to resolute abstraction. 

The conceptually pure and verifiable facts of paint/color, its application and controlled scale on the way to constructing a resonant visual image remain sacrosanct for Nancy Haynes. Pared down and reserved, Barbara Hatfield’s paintings and enigmatic drawings shift from stringency toward a subtle abstract evocativeness.  

Gwenn Thomas has been a very early pioneer investigating how photographic processes could be used to construct images that are interestingly positioned between painting with light, which is photography’s original definition, and the larger ambitions of expansive painting on canvas. Here she is less technically distanced as she transitions to making marks that are of the hand. New York’s busy streets provide accessible stage sets for Jan Meissner. Her photographs capture not only the city’s natural geometry and energy, but also its curious human activity as presented against lateral shifting planes of rich painterly colors and texture.  

Carl E. Hazlewood, writer, curtor and artist, is the co-founder of Aljira, A Center for Contemporary Art in Newark, NJ. 

acknowledgments:

This exhibition is made possible with support from New York State Council for the Arts, Public Funds from the New York City Dept. of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the Brooklyn Community Foundation. 

DIRECTIONS:

Take 2, 3, or 4 trains to Franklin Avenue. Walk two blocks against the traffic on Franklin. Walk ¾ block to 558 St. Johns Place. FiveMyles is within easy walking distance from the Brooklyn Museum.