Point/Counter-Point: (Homage to Matisse) Art of Michel Luc Bellemare Volume 3

Exhibition:
Point/Counter-Point: (Homage to Matisse)
The New Critical Abstraction Paintings of Michel Luc Bellemare
Shenkman Art Centre
Gallery Lalande + Doyle
Exhibition Runs from January 9th to February 1st , 2015
Vernissage: January 11th , 2015, from 1 pm to 3 pm.
All are Welcome.
The artist gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Articipate Endowment Fund and the City of
Ottawa, without such a forward thinking endowment fund, avant-garde art would not be possible and/or even
conceivable.
Description:
The exhibition titled: “Point/Counter-Point: (Homage to Matisse)” is a respectful nod to the work of Henri
Matisse and the exhibition is a contemporary examination of what is possible and what can be done after 60 years of
pure abstraction painting. Critical Abstraction is a practical application of the lessons and color theory of Matisse
and the abstract-expressionism movements, while extending beyond our traditional notions of what abstract art is
and what abstract art can do.
The primary critique of 99% of all contemporary pure abstraction painting in the last 60 years, i.e. abstractexpressionism(s), is that its images and its titles are merely decorative artifice & self-indulgent existentialist nonsense, devoid of meaning, devoid of social or educational elements that speak to this contemporary age. Sixty years
after its initial splash, today's abstract-expressionism and neo-abstract-expressionists are exercising an obsolete
useless lexicon that is in many ways redundant and incapable of describing anything substantial and relevant to its
viewer's existence in this post-industrial age. Subsequently, Color-Realism, or specifically critical abstraction, is an
evolutionary and revolutionary development of the Ab-Ex corpse, a new lexical interpretation of pure abstraction,
capitalizing on its multi-dimensionalism by utilizing its radical subjectivity to say something meaningful and
relevant about contemporary society, that speaks not immaterial nonsense but pragmatic material facts about current
sociological, philosophical, economic and human condition etc.
Subsequently, the Point/Counter-Point exhibition, utilizing large scale abstract paintings, attempts to
contemporize abstract art by applying abstract artworks to current intellectual streams of thought and socio-political
issues circulating in our post-industrial society. The point of the exhibition is to demonstrate that critical abstraction
is an art-form that has absorbed the energy and lessons of abstract-expressionism(s) and Matisse color theory. And
the point of the exhibition is to demonstrate that critical abstraction has moved beyond these movements by utilizing
an artwork’s “title” to say something concrete about contemporary society in the context of interesting and vibrant
abstract images. Through the practical application of pure abstraction painting, an artist has the capacity to both
energize the viewer via exciting images and via intellectually stimulating titles that invite contemplation,
conversation and opinion. Whether negative or positive, critical abstraction is designed and positioned specifically
to incite an opinion and a reaction from the viewer, outside the norm. It is this element that makes critical abstraction
a truly avant-garde art form and a cutting edge contemporary take on past AB-EX and color-field movements. The
basis of the critical abstraction art-form is the idea that “abstract art is the continuation of philosophy via other
means. Abstract art is real actions that revolutionized conventional standards, specifically conventional practices
and aesthetic standards through critical analysis, critical critique, creative re-interpretation and constructive
innovation of outdated standardized art-forms and conventional ways of doing and seeing things”.