Love, Life, Geometric Heritage
Artist
Gordon Newton
(American, 1948-2019)
Date1988
MediumOil, pastel, paint, resin, varnish, collage on paper
Dimensions17 × 14 in. (43.2 × 35.6 cm)
ClassificationsDrawing
Credit LineGift of John Hilberry, 2015
Object numberUAC6437
DescriptionDescribed as being “rich with emotional and personal connotations (1)” Gordon Newton’s collection of images of the human head contain contemplative variations on a theme and an extensive layering of the physical medium, two elements that have come to be indicative of the artist’s style. Newton, inspired by Olympic athletes, their physical perfection, athleticism, and the subsequent coincidental trivialization of their power, highlighting their vulnerability over their physical prowess as seen when chopped up by the camera lense in television interviews, began this series of busts in the late 1980s. Perhaps in order to avoid aggrandization, inviting instead relatability, his series of heads are rendered as life sized models. Through heavy layering of paint, varnish, and element of collage and the deepening of abstraction present as the series progresses, a complex contemplation of elements of human psychology and humanity itself can be read into these works. “Love, Life, Geometric Heritage”, one of Newton’s earlier works in this series still possess all elementary features indicative of a human face in an albeit abstracted fashion. Using heavy, dark marks to carve out the visage, a sense of a dark, ominous psychology emanates from the image as we the viewer are confronted by the serious, confronting gaze of Newton’s figure. A dark cluster of black marks indicating an ear stands out within the composition and alludes to Newton’s interest in the aural and foreshadows an evolutionary component in the heads series as some later figures give way to abstraction excepting for a prominent and evident ear-like form. This head’s left eye, portrayed as larger than what could be considered life-like, is another highlight of this composition. Giving emphasis to the eye reinforces his confrontation of the viewer and encourages a kind of dialogue betwixt the two, a familiar concept in the contemplative, mentally interactive work of Newton. “Love, Life, Geometric Heritage” is the psychologically intricate work of an artist with twenty plus years of creative explorations under his belt, beginning to dissect a new avenue of investigation, working through the convolutions of the multiplicities of the human condition with layers of paint, varnish, and resin.
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 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) “Line, Shape, Form: Three Decades of Drawings.” Gordon Newton: Selections from the James F. Duffy Jr. Gift, by MaryAnn Wilkinson, The Detroit Institute of the Arts, 2001, p. 32.
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