Piet Modrian

This is the painting that knocks the wind out of me at the MOMA. Brings tears. Seems the most sacred.

‘Everything was spotless white, like a laboratory. In a light smock, with his clean-shaven face, taciturn, wearing his heavy glasses, Mondrian seemed more a scientist or priest than an artist. The only relief to all the white were large matboards, rectangles in yellow, red and blue, hung in asymmetric arrangements on all the walls. Peering at me through his glasses, he noticed my glance and said: “I’ve arranged these to make it more cheerful.”‘

He painted a fake tulip white because he banned the colour green from being in his house

* * Play the Modrian Machine * *

Ellsworth Kelly

“I noticed that the large windows between the paintings [in the Musee d'Art Moderne] interested me more than the art exhibited. From then on, painting as I had known it was finished for me.”
(Ellsworth Kelly)

Louise Nevelson

Louise Berliawsky Nevelson (born Leah Berliawsky, September 23, 1899, Kiev, Ukraine; died April 17, 1988, New York) was a U.S. (Ukrainan-born) sculptor.
Nevelson is known for her abstract expressionist “boxes” grouped together to form a new creation. She used found objects or everyday discarded things in her “assemblages” or assemblies, one of which was three stories high. Says Nevelson, ”When you put together things that other people have thrown out, you’re really bringing them to life – a spiritual life that surpasses the life for which they were originally created.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Nevelson

In the mid-thirties, Nevelson turned from drawing to sculpture and it was here that she found her true artistic identity. She began by nailing together pieces of wood and painting them in a uniform black tone. Nevelson later added white and gold coloring to her constructions.

When Nevelson was 60 years old, she started to weld discarded objects and steel into rigid geometrical forms. She painted these constructions black. She also created figures with Plexiglas, achieving “magic movements” through the use of light.
www.jwa.org/discover/ inthepast/infocus/artists/

Nevelson, Louise 1900-1988, American sculptor, b. Kiev, Russia. Using odd pieces of wood, found objects, cast metal and other materials, Nevelson constructed huge walls or enclosed box arrangements of complex and rhythmic abstract shapes. These are covered entirely with black, white, or gold paint. The uniform tone gives her work a mysterious quality and emphasizes the structural importance of its shadows. Huge works such as World (1966; Detroit Inst. of Art) reflect a sense of total environment. Examples of Nevelson’s work are in the Whitney Museum and Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Nevelson.html