There are two artists that I look toward for their mastery of the philosophy of abstract oil painting. Wassily Kandinsky, and Piet Mondrian; both masters of their craft and shaman philosophers of modern art.
There are four Mondrian paintings at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts that I have spent years meditating on. I have read everything Mondrian has written, and rarely disagreed with his thesis. His work has inspired me and pushed me to be honest with my work, helping me see my visual language as my own.
Piet Mondrian
Dutch, 1872-1944
"Composition with Blue, Red, Yellow, and Black"
1922, oil on canvas
"Red Gladioli"
1906, Oil on canvas
"Irises"
1910, oil on canvas
"Composition with Blue and Red"
1932, oil on canvas
The MIA hardly ever puts this painting out on display. I have only seen it twice.
"All painting – the painting of the past as well as of the present – shows us that its essential plastic means we are only line and color."
-Piet Mondrian.
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