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Al Loving
"The Banicor" Mixed Media, African-American, Abstract, Free Floating, Colorful

1980s

About the Item

SALE ONE WEEK ONLY "The Banicor" is an exuberant lively piece full of intense color with a subtle coating of sparkles that catch the light in various ways and enhances the vibrant painted surface. It hangs free and explodes into lively movement against the wall. Al Loving's swirl motif can be seen within the body of the piece. This work of art was created with large section of corrugated cardboard hand painted with a dash of glitter. A custom made Lucite cut-out backing has been made with the cardboard hand sewn to the the Lucite in such a manner to make it removable without damage. It has been completely restored with great care by Kenneth Katz, Fellow of the I.I.C. Alvin Demar Loving, Jr. better known as Al Loving, was an African-American abstract expressionist painter from Detroit, Michigan. His work is known for hard-edge abstraction, fabric constructions, and large paper collages, all exploring complicated color relationships. This is an example of the abstract expressionist piece that soon dominated his art. This piece does not have conventional matting under it, glass to cover it or frames to surround it: instead it clings flatly to the wall. Sandra Yolles, reviewing an exhibition in 1990, explained "Loving’s work is about earth, wind, fire, and water: some pieces might be considered atmospheric maps of life at full blast—stretching the possibilities of the human spirit by delineating its directions, currents, and eddies.'” In the 1960s, Loving grew increasingly interested in Josef Albers's paintings of squares within squares. In an interview, he explained: "For me at the time, it was about painting the square until it was 'enough,' and that meant until it obtained form. The square that I started with would always be gone; only I knew it was a square, that reference was there. That freed me to just paint and let things evolve. The square was pure energy and focus.” These geometric abstractions conveyed the brilliance of refracted light; they were not just experiments in color. Loving would often make polyhedrons of the same size, with different colors, and hang them together in different arrangements on the wall. The result was sometimes dozens of canvases stretching out over several feet; to view an entire composition would take time, more than just a glance, making his paintings a powerful expression of time, too. Loving's geometric paintings were featured in his first solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Loving later abandoned hard-edged abstraction painting. After completing his MFA at the University of Michigan in 1968 Loving moved to New York City to the infamous Chelsea Hotel that was the home of numerous artists, writers and musicians. Within a year he had his Whitney Solo Exhibition, the first one for an African American artist. In the 1980s, Loving began to integrate other materials into his constructions, such as corrugated cardboard and rag paper. Loving quickly took a liking to the casualness of tearing cardboard and gluing it onto other pieces; in fact, he considered this practice abstract expressionist as well. The large paper collages gave him a sense of freedom because he was trekking through uncharted territory (although this work has been likened to Frank Stella's curvilinear metal reliefs and Elizabeth Murray's shaped canvases). Loving integrated circles and spirals into these collages as a nod to his African roots and as an expression of growth and continued life. In the piece Perpetual Motion (1994) (DASNY) Loving integrated materials such as cardboard and print. The cardboard is cut and overlapped to form a series of spirals. Each spiral has been carefully painted and placed to create dynamic color relationships. They do not have conventional matting under them, glass to cover them or frames to surround them: instead they cling flatly to the wall. Sandra Yolles, reviewing an exhibition in 1990, explained "Loving’s work is about earth, wind, fire, and water: some pieces might be considered atmospheric maps of life at full blast—stretching the possibilities of the human spirit by delineating its directions, currents, and eddies.'” Loving received National Endowment for the Arts fellowships in 1970, 1974, and 1984 and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1986. Loving created large-scale commissioned public works throughout his career for The First National Bank Building in Detroit, MI, for the Empire State Collection in Albany, NY, a ceramic mural in one of Detroit's People Mover stations, and another in the Library at Wayne State University. In 1996, he created a collage painting Sacramento New Morning for the Sacramento Convention Center, and in 2001 he designed 70 stained-glass windows and mosaic walls for the Broadway Junction subway in Brooklyn.
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