Untitled (Yellow and Gold)
Artist
Gordon Newton
(American, 1948-2019)
Date1973
MediumPaint, resin, wood
Dimensions17 × 97 × 7 in. (43.2 × 246.4 × 17.8 cm)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineGift of James Pearson Duffy, 1992
Object numberUAC1354
DescriptionShowcasing his interest in natural details and the effects of layers of applied resin on various surfaces, Newton’s “Untitled-Yellow and Gold” shows him playing with various juxtaposing elements of structure, form, and finish, exploring notions of the organic and the constructed. Working across the horizontal plane of wood that composes this piece, he carves out shapes and line with a wild fervor, evidenced by untreated, somewhat erratic strokes crafted with powerful force innately embedded within the blade of the saw, Newton’s often called upon instrument for creation. The artist has expressed fondness and interest in the blade as creative utensil stating, “I discovered the saw really made some marks. You could make a statement with a tool. You could make your lines. You could work fast. You could draw almost anything. I loved using it (1).” This desire to use an object so commonly associated with ruination as a means to reincarnate what once was forgotten scrap, silent in a pile of its fallen brothers and sisters into a piece of art with a booming voice discussing its own evolution lends itself well to his overall style. Newton’s chosen alternatives to traditional paint on canvas reflect his commonly proposed themes of creation through destruction, “movement and stasis, growth and decay, rational order and irrational chaos (2)” and are rife with innovation not only in his personal style, but in the sort of avant garde, neo-expressionism bore out of the tumultuous environment that was downtown Detroit in the period of the Cass Corridor Movement. Often heralded as the reclusive genius, seminal to the Cass Corridor artistic style, Gordon Newton, a Detroit native born in 1948, spent his childhood moving about the midwest before returning to the Southeast Michigan, beginning his formal art education in Port Huron Community College. From there, Newton elected to return to downtown Detroit, enrolling in art school at the Society of Arts and Crafts (now College for Creative Studies) in 1969, transferring to Wayne State University a year later. Known for labored, deeply analytical work inspired by his surroundings both in downtown Detroit and the more naturalized landscape of Northern Michigan, Newton carved out a place for himself not only in the Cass Corridor, but found contextualization within a larger American Expressionist movement, combining various elements of established visual languages to create an almost neo-Expressionist style, speaking in his own, unique vernacular. Gordon Newton has continued to live and work in Detroit through to today. Though he remains an elusive figure in the art world, his work continues to be visible, not only due to the Wayne State Art Collection, but through exhibitions throughout the surrounding areas.
Written by Kat Goffnett
(1) “Gordon Newton: Thirty Years Later.” Gordon Newton: Selections from the James F. Duffy Jr. Gift, by Marsha Miro, The Detroit Institute of the Arts, (2001):14.
(2) Ruth Ratner, “Gordon Newton”, Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 58, 2 (1980):92.
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