Author Archives: Experiment Station

Why You Must See an Alma Thomas in Person

Posted on by

Summer 2021 Curatorial Intern Naimah Jangha shares her impressions of experiencing Alma Thomas’s work.

Recently, I had the immense pleasure of examining the work of Alma Thomas up close. Part of my internship entailed a visit to the Howard University Art Gallery which has five Thomas paintings in its collection: Phantasma from 1960, Blue Abstraction from 1961, Abstraction (Untitled) from 1967, Orange Glow from 1968, and Forsythia Among Spring Flowers from 1972. Previously, I have seen her artwork through images in textbooks and online, but after seeing her paintings in person, I can safely say that reproductions do not do her art justice.  

There are nuances in her paintings that are more easily interpreted by the eye and not always captured on camera. Prime examples of these are her expert use of subtle layering to create luminosity and her use of color theory to create vibrancy in Blue Abstraction and Forsythia Among Spring Flowers. You will be able to see these paintings in the Alma W. Thomas: Everything Is Beautiful exhibition opening at the Phillips on October 30. 

Alma Woodsey Thomas, Blue Abstraction, 1961, Oil on canvas, 34 x 40 in., Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, DC / Licensed by Art Resource, NY. Photo: Gregory R. Staley

In Blue Abstraction, one is immediately confronted with various hues of blue, green, white, and red. Upon closer inspection, one notices the little dab of bright orange on the left margin of the painting. There is an energy created by her strategic color placement and layering. Among the sea of blues, there is a large island of green near the center of the composition and smaller patches of pink in the upper corners that add dynamism. One sees a careful placement of red and bright smears of bold white that also contribute to the energy of the painting. This translates on camera well, but the reason you must see it in person is the nuances found with close examination. For example, while I was looking at Blue Abstraction, I noticed that one area in the upper left corner was far more complex than I originally thought. There is a large swatch of white covered mostly by a pale green. This green gradually deepens in shade at the bottom of the modified rectangular shape created. There is a murky splotch of muted blues swirled with an orangish-brown right above the white-green swatch. What I found most interesting about this section is the perimeter of the colors. Thomas takes advantage of the textures of the canvas and the dark blue ground. The result is a beautiful translucent spattering of bright green and white. The layering of these thinner dabs of paint contrasts with the deep rich blue background and creates delicious pockets of luminosity that must be devoured in person. 

Alma Woodsey Thomas, Forsythia Among Spring Flowers, 1972, Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 52 in., Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, DC / Licensed by Art Resource, NY. Photo: Gregory R. Staley

Much like Blue Abstraction, Forsythia Among Spring Flowers plays with layers and opacity to create luminosity. At first glance, one sees a lot of yellow with green and brown peeking through underneath. Then one notices a play on foreground and background. There are areas where what one originally thought was the negative space in the background is layered on top of the yellow to become the foreground. A chief example of this can be seen in the lower right quadrant. When looking closely in person, I noticed that the green marks, usually reserved for the background, were painted on top of the yellow. Thomas used the green to adjust the shape and size of her yellow “Alma stripes,” which made the green in this section appear more saturated. Through close looking, I also noticed differences in saturation within the yellow dabs. This is because Alma Thomas layered different opacities of yellow on top of each other. As a result, some dabs appear brighter than others, creating luminosity. She achieves delicacy in her paintings through this process. This delicacy is best digested in person. 

When appreciating her work, I highly encourage you to stop for a moment and look for these nuances. Find the areas in Forsythia Among Spring Flowers where the dark brown background has a dot of two lighter brown shades between the yellow stripes, or where there is a small drip of white. Look for the dab of orange in Blue Abstraction. Pay attention to the edges of color Thomas paints and how her knowledge of color theory and her layering of colors creates luminosity and vibrancy. Pause and look closely at every beautiful detail in each painting. I can assure you that there are many to be found. I implore you to make a trip to The Phillips Collection to see Everything Is Beautiful this fall because pictures do not capture the nuances and details that distinctly define her work. You will not be disappointed. 

Daniel Canogar’s Painterly Computing

Posted on by

2020-21 Sherman Fairchild Fellow Ariana Kaye on Daniel Canogar’s Digital Intersections project, Amalgama Phillips.

Daniel Canogar uses digital technology as his artistic medium. According to Canogar, the evolution of technology has left an enormous amount of waste in its wake. He sees himself as an archeologist and as such he goes to recycling centers, junkyards, and even dumpster dives in order to collect old pieces of technology like VHS tapes and Gameboys. Canogar brings them back to life mostly through digital projections. We don’t usually think of objects like VHS tapes as objects that are alive, but they carry personal and collective memories. These pieces of technology are their own vanitas, symbols of the ephemerality of time.

Daniel Canogar’s Amalgama Phillips. Photo: Studio Daniel Canogar

Amalgama Phillips is the second Digital Intersections project curated by Vesela Sretenovic. It was created in celebration of the Phillips’s centennial year. It debuted as a livestream on YouTube, and is now also being projected in The Phillips Collection’s Goh Annex stairwell and also at Phillips@THEARC.

The work, as the title Amalgama suggests, is an amalgamation of 550 artworks from the museum’s permanent collection. The artwork is displayed in a “liquid” state. We experience the work in a viscous state, yet we are reminded of the traditional form of paint on canvas. Despite the digital nature of Canogar’s artwork, he is still very much invested in the painterly qualities of art and cites his major inspirations as Mark Rothko and figures from the Abstract Expressionist movement such as Jackson Pollock. The digital projection of art in a liquid state lights a torch to the future and new forms of art assisted by the endless innovations of technology. Technology will enable artists to create in ways that we do not yet perceive.

Daniel Canogar’s Amalgama Phillips. Photo: Lee Stalsworth

The work does not have an obvious beginning nor end. Instead, it constantly adapts itself according to an algorithm that randomizes the paintings that we see. Canogar is greatly inspired by the work of Zygmunt Bauman and his book Liquid Modernity (1999). The book discusses the liquid state of modernity in which our sense of time and geographical boundaries are liquidated because of our ability to communicate with people across the globe. We are able to shop by going to a large mall or shop online where everything is available in one place and have things delivered to us very quickly—in a liquid fashion.

Today, many people look at art exclusively online and do not visit art museums. This was true before the pandemic but the trend has risen due to the pandemic. When thinking about the future of the nature of human interaction with art, I wonder how online viewership influences artists when they are making art? How does looking at art online change our perception of art and our experience with it? Now, art may become a visual artifact that we can look at online which flows and circulates. Amalgama Phillips represents the development of a new artistic aesthetic, the integration of a human painterly experience and machine life created by algorithms on a computer.

Fellow Spotlight: Shiloah Symone Coley

Posted on by

Meet our 2021-22 Sherman Fairchild Fellows. As part of our institutional values and commitment to diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion, the Sherman Fairchild Fellowship is a comprehensive, yearlong paid program that includes hands-on experience, mentoring, and professional development. 

Shiloah Symone Coley by Nithin Charlly

Why are you interested in working at a museum?

From the time I was a little girl, I didn’t feel represented or seen in art museums. This ended up shaping the trajectory of my learning and pursuit of an artistic practice. I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside children’s museums in the capacity of facilitating art programming and have done smaller projects with larger art institutions. However, I felt that I never truly learned the ins and outs of an art museum. I want to understand how and why they function in addition to how and why they change as their relationship to the audiences they serve has come into question over the past decade.

What brought you to The Phillips Collection?

As an artist, researcher, and writer, I continuously feel compelled to use narratives in all of their complexity as a point of departure for conveying the complications that lie amongst our perceptions of the self and others, which is further complicated by the plethora of identities and positionalities we hold at the individual, familial, and communal level.

How does an institution engage in the complexity of the narratives perpetuated by the work in addition to considering the different narratives of the publics they serve? I think the Phillips is enduring a period of transition as it grapples with its past, present, and future as an institution. When I applied for the fellowship, I was particularly interested in the Community Exhibitions occurring through the work of the Community Engagement and Education departments with different communities in D.C. The particular work of attempting to expand the reach of a museum to not only be inclusive but responsible and accountable to the communities of DC motivated me to pursue a position here.

Please tell us about your work at the Phillips over the summer, and the projects that you will be working on during your fellowship. What do you hope to accomplish during your fellowship?

Over the summer, I focused on creating content for the Juried Invitational Inside Outside, Upside Down in celebration of the centennial. This meant connecting with the artists to create blog posts, social media content, and audio stops. Connecting with the artists has really offered me an opportunity to build my own community of artists working in and around DC, which was one of my biggest goals coming into the fellowship. As an MFA in Studio Art candidate at American University in my second year, I feel that I really missed out on community building during the first year of my program with covid restrictions in place, so it’s exciting to get to do studio visits with some of the artists working with the Phillips.

The focus of my fellowship is to bridge the Community Engagement and Marketing & Communications departments, while considering how we can be intentional about storytelling and engagement with our community. I hope to have a better understanding of museums as not only institutions but sites for civic engagement as I continue to work with artists and support programs at Phillips@THEARC.

What is your favorite painting/artist here?

Currently one of my favorite photographs in the collection is Man with Two Girls on Shoulders (East 100th Street Series) by Bruce Davidson.

If you were to describe the Phillips in one word, what would that word be?

Learning.

What is a fun fact about you?

I was a very mediocre competitive swimmer from age 5 to 15 years old.