The Virtual Abstract Collection is drawn from the abstract art exhibition held annually at the SUNY Global Center.
A Message From the Curator:
In these works, students explore the use of color, shape, value, texture, and line to visualize emotions, ideas, and a state of mind that is invisible in our visual world. The purity of the art that evolves from this exploration is both refreshing and exciting. The work is removed from the usual references to our world; instead, it uses visual form to make visible what is normally invisible. As a result, the viewer is offered a unique opportunity to experience, via art, a range of ideas and emotions that have no tangible reality. I hope the viewer finds this collection exciting and intrinsically rewarding. It has been my pleasure to bring it to your attention.
—Joe Hildreth, curator
Abstract Studies, acrylic on canvas, 2018
Colored Subconscious, oil on canvas, 2018
Joker II, gessoed poster paper, oil paint, acrylic paint, tape, 2019
"Playing with the underlying image, paint is applied with large smears, chaotic arcs, and overlapping drips. The colors match those found or similar to those found in the poster, and the anarchy of the painting is equal to the pandemonium of the film itself."
Sunken, acrylic, 2019
"This is an abstract piece that is meant to convey a heavy feeling with little moments of hope and desire scattered throughout. Almost entirely accidental, this work would not have existed without its sister piece created before it and the decisions that occurred to join the two."
Go, Gently, acrylic on canvas, 2020
"I was concerned by the spread of novel Coronavirus in China when I created this painting. Hundreds of people died and thousands of people lost their families every day. I hope to communicate a space that make people feel dreadful yet humane simultaneously."
Where I Was Going, acrylic paint, matte medium, dirt/grass/pebbles, 2019
"Where I Was Going is the amalgamation of my working ideas/experimentations from the five months prior to creating it. I was influenced by images of land masses, biology, and ideas of radioactivity."
Untitled, oil, ink, and newspaper on canvas, 2019
Apples in Color, oil on canvas, 2019
"A burst of color, breaking through, into the bright side of life with a leap of faith."
In Between the Lines, oil on canvas, 2019
"I hope that my viewers can focus on color, mark placement, and line usage. The intent is so the viewer can follow each line and see where it takes them, whether it pulls your eyes to a new color or a different direction."
Being Happy, oil painting, 2019,
"Vincent Van Gogh has always been my biggest inspiration for making works of art. I love the color and shapes and his amazing brushstroke in his work. I try to make my own work about my feelings and things and people I love."
Untitled, oil on canvas, 2019
"This painting is based off a poem by Maya Angelou titled The Mothering Blackness."
Fingerpainting, acrylic, Sharpie, modeling paste, and glass polymer on stained canvas, 2017
My Home, oil on canvas, 2019
Your Home, oil on canvas, 2019
Untitled No. 1, oil on canvas, 2019
"Some of my artist influences are Stanley Whitney and Andrea Belag. I hope to convey a feeling of fleeting time."
Untitled No. 2, oil on canvas, 2019
Existence Precedes Essence, oil on canvas, 2019
"This piece is about our journey to find our ego, or self. We run into trouble answering the question, for we cannot set out to answer what it is we are made of, without first being made of something at all. It is a realization of the physical nature of existence and our ego, or essence, being a byproduct of that."
Tainted, oil on canvas, 2019
Water With Jazz, acrylic on canvas, 2019
"Dreams represent the purest form of fantasy we unleash through our subconscious. They represent the truest form of freedom we can experience totally unrepressed and totally creative. Have you ever had a dream, that you were so sure was real? Unable to wake from that dream, it is hard to know the difference between the dream world and the real world, isn’t it?"
The Real World, acrylic on canvas, 2019
Sunset Park, oil on stretched canvas, 2019
"This abstraction was inspired by the industrial buildings in Sunset Park, which to me, is a painting of home. The grid like structure is mimicked and can be seen. The pallet has been changed to my liking and what speaks to me. The mixture of primary colors and secondary colors has opened up a door within me. While painting this I have felt a huge connection to my home, Brooklyn, NY. Even though this was comforting to paint, it taught me how to take myself out of my comfort zone and discover something new about myself and my environment."
Experiment; Dream Punishment, oil painting, 2019
"In this piece of work I try to communicate with humanity on a deeper, spiritual level when there seems to be not much conscience left in this consumeristic, capitalistic fantasy world. I want to create a ‘real’ world where there is the ultimate truth for each one of us. I wish my viewers to pay attention to the details when it matters so much in the literal world we are living in and also look inside us, not the outside."
Corporeal Expanse In Umber and Ultramarine, alcohol ink on PVC panel, 2019
"Corporeal Expanse in Umber and Ultramarine is one of a broader series of paintings — currently there are upwards of 15 paintings in the Expanse series — that present visual forms evoking the cavernous and stratigraphic along with those of the skeletal and visceral."
The Amalgamation of Aspiration, print, 2019
"For this piece, I wanted to experiment with materials. I combined two different drawing materials. I focused on patterns, repetition, and movement to create my composition."