"Street Scene, Balloons, 1951-52". "Alex Katz in the 1950's" exhibition, 04/30/2017 to 08/06/2017, Cleveland Museum of Art.
I was able to catch the tail end of the "Alex Katz in the 1950's" exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art. As soon as I laid the eyes on the first painting in the show, a crisp sense of clarity seemed to brush through my body from top to bottom, like being showered by a rain forest mist coming off of a nearby waterfall.
1950's was a time when abstract art dominated the art scene. Daringly and innovatively, Katz introduced a new mode of artistic expression that integrated abstraction with recognizable images by paring down compositions to their simplistic and most fundamental elements.
By removing the details of the intricate articulations such as those of facial expressions and hand gestures, Katz' work creates and holds a vastly generous space for the audience to take a step back, and to think about the essence of what that piece is trying to say. From there, the audience is invited to whatever insight that may emerge as a result of experiencing the art.
Sometimes we find ourselves immersed in the painful details of seemingly important issues in our daily routines and get overwhelmed by seemingly never-ending demands - professionally and personally. Air gets denser, our vision narrows, the gear in our brain gets intense, the pulse quickens, stress elevates... and we can get stuck in that narrowed view and that numbing sense of overwhelm.
I started to wonder - what may we be able to take away from Alex Katz's 1950's unconventional approach to art?
When facing the overwhelm, what if we took a deep breath, take a step back from what's overwhelming us, and ask the following questions:
- If we took away all the details, what is really important here?
- What's the essence of what we are trying to do?
- Instead of focusing on what I need to DO, how do I want to hold myself to BE? How would I like to show up in the world?
Sitting in my car in the garage of the Cleveland Museum of Art, I feel inspired by Alex Katz and those who dare to express their own voices.
Closing my eyes and still savoring the distilling effect of artwork, I am energized by the possibilities of recognizing our overwhelm and engaging it with a potentially new mode of interaction - with our Being, vs. Doing.
What tips do you have for working with overwhelm?
