Expressive Roots at Moss Galleries

Robert S. Neuman: Expressive Roots is now open at Moss Galleries. Anchored by Neuman’s unfailingly prismatic color palette, gestural brushwork, and expansive compositions, this showing focuses on the evolution of Neuman’s approach to abstract expressionism. A reception will be held on Wednesday, September 9 from 5:30-7:30 pm.

Neuman’s passion for the arts began amongst the shelves and sawdust of his parent’s Idaho hardware store where he sketched along to radio programs and “borrowed” supplies to paint the nearby vistas. His artistic trajectory changed dramatically when he enrolled in California College of Arts and Crafts.

He would later recall, “Coming from the state of Idaho to San Francisco and walking into the museum, green as a cucumber, and seeing Clyfford Still for the first time, and [Sam] Francis and [Richard] Diebenkorn all hanging there, was quite a shock. Here I’d been painting views of Coeur d’Alene Lake with the mountains!”

Transformative experiences followed: studying with Max Beckmann at Mills College, then Willi Baumeister on a Fulbright Fellowship in post-war Germany, and Antoni Tapies during a Guggenheim Fellowship to Barcelona. Each one deepened Neuman’s relationship with the language of abstract expressionism.

Taking one of Neuman’s earliest mature works as a starting point, Summer of the Dead (1951), the exhibition embarks on a rich and unpredictable journey through Neuman’s oeuvre. A dalliance with pure abstraction in the 1950s, Untitled (The Flag) (1959), gives way to a new interest in symbolism in the 1960s in Pedazos del Mundo No. 12 (1961).

Swept up in the fervor around space travel and in the prime of his career, he conjures explosive, universe-spanning compositions in his Space Signs series. An obsession with gesture and texture take hold in Flesh Rose (1982), before his myriad fascinations coalesce in his confronting Lame Deer series and masterfully composed late-career works, The Stack (2001) and Transition Painting (2009).

This exhibition is part of the Robert S. Neuman Centennial Project, a celebration of the artist’s life and prolific six-decade career defined by constant experimentation and fierce individuality. This year-long celebration invites audiences to rediscover Neuman’s boundless creativity.

Artwork pictured: Summer of the Dead, 1951, oil on masonite, 33 x 48 inches