Cloud or Cliff

Original acrylic on canvas by David Page

120x120cm unframed

124x124cm framed in ink blue tray frame

More by David Page

This body of work by David Page is part of an exhibition titled 'Our Land' which launches in Canvas Galleries September 26th 2024.

Twentieth-century pioneers of modernism in art, architecture, and poetry broke with tradition, using their understanding of the past to innovate. They knew what to change. Subsequent artists, influenced by a purer form of modernism, often disregarded historical context, impacting architecture, particularly in older settlements. Modernism shifted art’s focus to marks, processes, and techniques, leading to abstraction.

Later generations began to question what was lost in this pursuit of the new, leading to a synthesis of modernism with earlier traditions. Richard Diebenkorn exemplified this shift by moving from abstraction to a series of paintings depicting West Coast suburbia in the 1960s, only to return to abstract grid-like works later.

John Montague’s poem ‘The Family Piano’ reflects this fracturing, with its chorus ‘My cousin is smashing the piano’ evoking memories of past music and performers. The poem’s chaotic conclusion, with a modernist parody of the family dog ‘howling to high heaven: John Cage serenading Stockhausen!’ suggests a richer view of modernism’s evolution.

This painting seeks to blend traditional perspectives with a modern sense of abstraction, recognizing both historical context and contemporary innovation.

John Montague, An Anthology of Modern Irish Poetry (Wes Davis) p272 - p273, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.