Beach Abstraction

While shoreline painting has engaged our imagination as early as Dutch painters of the 1600s, since the 19^th century artists have proceeded to aggressively abstract the elements of beach life. Turner and Constable’s shoreline images veered toward abstraction under the guise of painting weather and atmospheric effects. By the age of the Impressionists we find beach life dissolved and smudged to be colorful suggested forms fracturing in the shore’s bright sunlight. And, by the mid twentieth century San Francisco Bay area artists like David Park, Richard Diebenkorn and Wayne Thiebaud used beach life as a source for abstract expressionism.

Consider these three examples by Richard Diebenkorn.  Example 1 presents a girl on the beach. Example 2 offers a small quick oil study (only 7”x11”) of beach landscape forms with beach objects, umbrellas. Example 3 presents an example of Diebenkorn’s future direction as he flattens and abstracts the beach landscape.

Example 1. Diebenkorn, girl on beach.

Example 2. Diebenkorn, small oil sketch.

Example 3. Deibenkorn, beach landscape.

Wayne Thiebaud later moved toward a bold “pop” style but, began as more of an expressionist as you see in example 4 with “Beach Boys”. His later work appears as a merger of “pop” with expressionist gestures and innovations on traditional landscape design from China as well as Europe.

Example 4. Theibaud, Beach Boys.

In an effort to distill qualities of beach life I borrowed the standard seascape model (outlined and discussed in earlier blog posts) which relies on a strong horizon  riding above a series of soft converging diagonals as you see in examples 5,6,and 7.  Principally, I repeatedly abstracted the elements of beach life with its umbrellas, figures, and beach recliners. I merged them into a rhythmic stream of shapes which receded from a foreground into distance along the horizon. I deliberately impaired legibility through blurring and blending shapes into greater uncertainty as I continued my experiments with beach life abstraction. You may follow this process in examples 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. Example 9 represents my bid to suggest the atmospheric dissolution of forms.

Example 5 is an oil sketch on paper which reverses the design of example 6 and strips out much of the color variety. Example 7 uses a design similar to example 5 but has a darkened horizon to build higher contrasts and a more mysterious atmosphere. While example 8 is a more determined effort to undermine overt legibility and enhance a feeling of lateral windswept motion.

Example 5. Oil sketch on paper.

Example 6. Oil on dibond aluminum, 24×48, Sun and Shade.

Example 7. Oil on dibond aluminum, 24×48, Beach Lounge.

Example 8. Oil on dibond aluminum, 12×18, Lateral Motion,

Example 9. Oil on dibond aluminum,18×18, Beach Atmosphere,