Larry Poons
American, born Japan, born 1937Merton Eaves , 1988
Not on view
Mixed media on canvas
Dimensions97 × 107 in. (246.4 × 271.8 cm)
Gift of Genevieve and Richard Shaw, by exchange, 2010.302
Though Larry Poons originally rose to fame for his Op Art paintings of the 1960s—with canvases covered in meticulously painted geometric shapes—he is now known for large, abstract canvases covered in thickly applied paint. His experimentations with color, gesture, and texture gained him critical acclaim from writer and art critic Clement Greenberg. Like Poons, Greenberg liked art that focused on the properties of the material (color, line, size) and argued that pure abstract painting was the logical and necessary conclusion of modern art.
Poons's work is not about a specific subject although the large size fills your field of vision and beckons you to search for recognizable forms. For Poons Merton Eaves is about paint. He said, “There is a piece of everything in everything, you know. A rock looks just like a tree and tree just like a rock. It all depends on how you see it. They are, we are, all made up of the same stuff. And in the end, it’s just paint.” He wants us to see rather than contextualize and feel rather than interpret. Poons's work from 1980s and 90s has influenced a group of emerging artists—a third generation of Abstract Expressionists who continue experimentation with texture and color.
