L 2007

Editor: This is Amy Sillman's "L" at the Harvard Art Museums. I find the clashing colors strangely comforting. What do you see in this piece, considering the art world's reception of abstract expressionism? Curator: Well, the scale and bold colors demand attention, don't they? Sillman, working in a post-Abstract Expressionist world, confronts the legacy of that movement. How does she both embrace and critique its heroic gestures, its claims of pure expression? The imagery almost appears structural or architectural, even anthropomorphic. Editor: So, it's a conversation with the past, not just a spontaneous outburst of emotion? Curator: Precisely! The work uses the visual language developed in the mid-20th century. But, it infuses it with humor and a self-awareness that challenges the seriousness often associated with abstract painting. Editor: I never thought about abstract art being funny. That changes everything. Curator: Art always responds to its time, and its predecessors. Thinking about it that way helps us understand the choices the artist makes.