Pop Playfulness: A Glimpse at the Career of Edward Avedisian
Edward Avedisian's (1936 - 2007) insouciant mix of pop playfulness, color field cool and high formalist style put his art in a unique, and at the time generously rewarded, position.
Untitled 038, c. 1969, 76" X 72", acrylic on canvas, stretched
In the 1960's, Edward Avedisian was among the youngest luminaries producing a grand new abstract painting. Shown first at Ivan Karp and Dick Bellamy's Hansa Gallery and then at Robert Elkon, Avedisian's insouciant mix of pop playfulness, color field cool and high formalist style put his art in a unique, and at the time generously rewarded, position. Paintings made it onto the cover of Artforum, were purchased by all the major museums, were among the few abstract works shown as representative of America's post-war achievement at Expo 67 in Montreal and comprised a cornerstone in histories of the period written by Barbara Rose, among others.
Untitled 047, c. 1965, 77" x 77", acrylic on canvas
Yet Avedisian left New York in the mid-1970's, moving upstate along the Hudson River and severing his exhibition ties. Had Avedisian merely left New York City to establish his studio in a quieter place once his position was secure, had he continued to develop the abstraction for which he became known, then this would be just another permutation of the life lived by many successful artists of his generation. But, as his new paintings indicated, Avedisian's break was far more deeply expressed.
Untitled 017, c.1965, 73" X 134", acrylic on canvas
Towards the end of his career Avedisian developed a new style: figurative, ostensibly naive, contentious. The world Avedisian painted was that of his upstate environs, and he did so with a disarming directness. At the core of these paintings lies a furtive sense of narrative: tow pick-ups are parked beside a farmhouse, a couple reposes behind roadside billboards, men work on their trucks.
Historic Hudson 0634, 40" X 50", acrylic on canvas
Jud with Cat 0667, 24" X 20", acrylic on canvas
Avedisian, always contemporary, evolved into a different kind of American painter. After becoming a cosmopolitan maestro in the sophisticated symphony of sixties abstract painting, Avedisian became provincial in the most explicit sense, resulting in an interesting reconciliation between Avedisian's early achievement and his mature work.
Carrie Haddad Gallery | 622 Warren Street | Hudson, NY 12534
518-828-1915 | Open Daily 11 - 5 pm
