A painting can be psychologically charged even with flat, minimal, sparse, mechanical application.
Kenneth Noland's painting "Gift" was an interplay of colors and the focus to his vision.
A central universal shape of radiating colored rings represents a pulse, linking the work to Noland's interest in psychoanalysis and the therapeutic methods of Wilhelm Reich. The Reichian goal involves focusing on a pulsing center to connect with the flow of life beyond, channeling energy back into the body, and illustrating the body's experience when its armor prevents the release of orgone energy.
The flatness in Noland's work, a characteristic highlighted by Greenberg and Donald Judd, was seen as a rejection of illusionism. Keeping its meaning within its own framework at a minimalist level. It refused to add depth beyond the picture plane. So no tricks for atmosphere, depth or other effects. In favor of exploring the purity of color and form.
Noland's typical approach involved selecting the central color first and then working outward. This color interaction was rooted in the theories of Hans Hofmann.
Noland also differentiated himself from artists like Kandinsky and the Delaunays by rejecting layering and focusing on scale.
"Gift," as a painting reflects a post-industrial aesthetic symbolizing a broader American ethos of progress, efficiency, and individual potential and linked to high-speed industrial production
He broke it down to the fundamental elements of painting. Noland's work has even been likened to technological diagrams.
'Gift ' stands as a testament to the power of simplicity—where flatness is not emptiness, but a dynamic space for meaning, sensation, and intellect to converge. sources: https://www.tate.org.uk/research/in-focus/gift-kenneth-noland/the-painting
Flat shapes on top of a wild horse.
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