Untitled 1972

This untitled painting was made by Jeremy Moon, in Britain, sometime before his death in 1973. It is a black and white image of interlocking grids, a pattern which creates an overall sense of order and rationality. At the time, British art institutions like the Tate were at the centre of debates around abstraction. Some critics argued that abstraction was a universal language, free from social or political content. Yet, we can also interpret this work through the lens of British modernism, where artists sought to create a new visual language for a rapidly changing society. The grid, with its associations of urban planning and industrial design, may reflect the social conditions of postwar Britain, with its emphasis on reconstruction and technological advancement. Further research into Moon’s influences and the reception of his work can reveal more about the social context in which it was made. The meaning of art is contingent on social and institutional context.