Agnes Martin – The Douglas Hyde Gallery

Paradise: [1] an enclosed garden [2] the garden of Eden [3] a place of bliss, felicity, or delight [4] heaven

When I think of art I think of beauty. Beauty is the mystery of life. It is not in the eye. It is in the mind. In our minds there is awareness of perfection.

Agnes Martin has a luminous presence in the history of American art. Her simple abstraction, which might be described as the subtle form of interplay between the regular and irregular, and between straight black lines and coloured wash, has something in common with weaving; it also reflected the austerity of the New Mexico desert landscape where she lived, as well as her serene inner world.

Martin’s work is contemplative, meticulous, and filled with light. Having led a long, orderly, and modest life, she once remarked: ‘I have a very quiet mind. I worked hard for that. It took a lot of discipline’. No painter has more convincingly corroborated the truism that ‘less is more’.

The Douglas Hyde Gallery gratefully acknowledges the assistance of The Pace Gallery, New York (especially David Goerk), in the organization of this small exhibition.

Talks
Fergus Feehily will respond to the work of Agnes Martin on Wednesday.
Wednesday, June 16 at 1:15pm.

Barry White will give a talk on ‘The Life and Work of Agnes Martin’.
Wednesday, June 30 at 1:15pm.

Film
Gabriel
1976 / 78 minutes
Gabriel, a film by Agnes Martin, documents the journey of a young boy through various natural landscapes. The boy’s relationship to nature and abstraction reflects Martin’s attitude to her paitnings and drawings. The film, presented without dialogue, echoes the quietude and contemplative qualities that Martin valued throughout her life.

The film will be screened on Thursdays at 5pm, throughout the exhibition.

With thanks to The Pace Gallery, New York.