Debra Bricker Balken

Edna Andrade (1917-2008) – Philadelphia artist influenced by Paul Klee, Piet Mondrian, and Josef Albers as well as, more generally, architecture, philosophy and mathematics as she developed her own unique style and artistic voice in the worlds of Abstract Art and Op Art.

I had an opportunity to read and familiarize myself with this attractive coffee table book and also view several large canvases of Edna Andrade when recently visiting the Locks Gallery in Philadelphia. Art historian Debra show more Bricker Balken provides background and context but the real highlights of the book are the dozens of full-page color prints. Since anyone reading this is probably unfamiliar with the art of Edna Andrade, below are six pics of Edna Andrade paintings along with my modest comments. Please feast your eyes and enjoy!

MOONGATE A
Are we looking at a perfect cube with one side open or made of glass? That’s what my eye picks up as I identify five receding interior planes on the vertical in a fanciful interplay with circles large and small, especially the largest circle in the center; the entire work bathed in muted greys and mauve. Moongate A – such an appropriate title for a painting with subtle, lunar energy.

Moongate A

FANFARE
The visual arts suffer when we judge a six foot painting by a six inch reproduction, which certainly can be true with this large canvas of colorful vertical bars. The original is stunning - vibrant colors switching back and forth between various hues of yellow, green, orange, blue, red, pink, violet, purple, The alternating up and down of the bars gives the painting a distinctive shot of kinetic energy. I can almost hear trumpets playing a few measures of bright, uplifting music – a fanfare.

Fanfare

NIGHT SEA
With the nine points of light, we have echoes of a three x three magic square. When I viewed the actual canvas, a large canvas nearly six feet in length, the intensity of light at these nine points gave the distinct impression nine holes punctured the painting permitting extraordinarily bright light generated from high wattage to shine through. Also remarkable is the scrupulousness and exactitude of all the lines, as if the art was computer generated. Many are the works nowadays of a computer replicating a human artist; here we have Edna Andrade replicating the precision of a computer. Truly astonishing.

Night Sea

SPACE DREAM
One of my very favorites. The illusion of multiple three dimensional geometric spaces, some with circles, some without, an unending combination of forms that have a hint of architecture and mathematics, as if we’re beholding the visual formula for the construction of what will eventually become a universe chock-full of lifeforms evolving with infinite variation on set themes. I don’t know about you, but for me, my nervous system tingles when I’m given a chance to feast my eyes on such art.

Space Dream

AHMET HELLO
Six circles, a limited palette and radiating lines shifting with the change of shapes – complexity within simplicity. Art as a visual counterpart to an elegantly expressed calculus.

Ahmet Hello

MOTION 4-64
One of Edna Andrade’s signature works. There is no story-line or narrative to be discerned or recognized; rather, the experience of viewing is completely visual. If you keep your eye on this painting you just might detect movement. Op Art as hallucinogen; Op Art as a highly aesthetic and artistic psychedelic.

Motion 4-64 show less

Another American comics artifact. Art and Seth also presented Poor Richard as part of the Vancouver Art Gallery's exhibit Krazy! The Delirious World Of Anime Comics Video Games. This is a weird one - this book came out of a month of prodigious illustration by Guston, who had been a well-known New York abstract artist. He had a show that was lambasted and retreated to Woodstock, where he befriended Phillip Roth. These drawings came out of dinner conversations about Richard Nixon and pre-dated show more his impeachment by three years.

Richard Nixon's face is a dick-and-balls. It's pretty great. show less

Edna Andrade (1917-2008) – Philadelphia artist influenced by Paul Klee, Piet Mondrian, and Josef Albers as well as, more generally, architecture, philosophy and mathematics as she developed her own unique style and artistic voice in the worlds of Abstract Art and Op Art.

I had an opportunity to read and familiarize myself with this attractive coffee table book and also view several large canvases of Edna Andrade when recently visiting the Locks Gallery in Philadelphia. Art historian Debra show more Bricker Balken provides background and context but the real highlights of the book are the dozens of full-page color prints. Since anyone reading this is probably unfamiliar with the art of Edna Andrade, below are six pics of Edna Andrade paintings along with my modest comments. Please feast your eyes and enjoy!

MOONGATE A
Are we looking at a perfect cube with one side open or made of glass? That’s what my eye picks up as I identify five receding interior planes on the vertical in a fanciful interplay with circles large and small, especially the largest circle in the center; the entire work bathed in muted greys and mauve. Moongate A – such an appropriate title for a painting with subtle, lunar energy.

Moongate A

FANFARE
The visual arts suffer when we judge a six foot painting by a six inch reproduction, which certainly can be true with this large canvas of colorful vertical bars. The original is stunning - vibrant colors switching back and forth between various hues of yellow, green, orange, blue, red, pink, violet, purple, The alternating up and down of the bars gives the painting a distinctive shot of kinetic energy. I can almost hear trumpets playing a few measures of bright, uplifting music – a fanfare.

Fanfare

NIGHT SEA
With the nine points of light, we have echoes of a three x three magic square. When I viewed the actual canvas, a large canvas nearly six feet in length, the intensity of light at these nine points gave the distinct impression nine holes punctured the painting permitting extraordinarily bright light generated from high wattage to shine through. Also remarkable is the scrupulousness and exactitude of all the lines, as if the art was computer generated. Many are the works nowadays of a computer replicating a human artist; here we have Edna Andrade replicating the precision of a computer. Truly astonishing.

Night Sea

SPACE DREAM
One of my very favorites. The illusion of multiple three dimensional geometric spaces, some with circles, some without, an unending combination of forms that have a hint of architecture and mathematics, as if we’re beholding the visual formula for the construction of what will eventually become a universe chock-full of lifeforms evolving with infinite variation on set themes. I don’t know about you, but for me, my nervous system tingles when I’m given a chance to feast my eyes on such art.

Space Dream

AHMET HELLO
Six circles, a limited palette and radiating lines shifting with the change of shapes – complexity within simplicity. Art as a visual counterpart to an elegantly expressed calculus.

Ahmet Hello

MOTION 4-64
One of Edna Andrade’s signature works. There is no story-line or narrative to be discerned or recognized; rather, the experience of viewing is completely visual. If you keep your eye on this painting you just might detect movement. Op Art as hallucinogen; Op Art as a highly aesthetic and artistic psychedelic.

Motion 4-64 show less

One of my favorite poems, by Guston's wife Musa:
I thought I would never
write anything down again.
Then I put on my cold wristwatch.
This is a stunning book of collaboration.