Sam FrancisCelestial Insect (72-020)
1972
Acrylic on paper
Signed and dated on the back
17.72 x 21.65 in ( 45 x 55 cm )ZoomInquiry - Celestial Insect (72-020), 1972
Certificat
Provenance
André Emmerich, New-York
Falchi arte Moderna, Milano
Private Collection, Italy
Exhibited
Falchi arte Moderna, Milano, 1974
Artwork's description
From the end of the 1960s, Sam Francis carried out in-depth research on light. He wonders about the two contradictory states of the latter: "black, the original background from which the light springs, and white, the base of the light and the sum of the colors". He seeks to obtain a good balance since, according to him, “an increase in light causes an increase in darkness”.
His painting is not fixed, the irregular shape of the spots and the arrangement of the colors come to rest and form a network, both structured and disarticulated.
Artist's biography
Sam Lewis Francis said Sam Francis is an American painter, known for his non-figurative work. Borned in 1923 in San Mateo (California), the artist has created a new color aesthetic and a new design canvas.
Sam Francis was not intended to become a painter, following studies in medicine and psychology. In 1944, after joining the Army as an aviator, he was victim of a plane crash, crashing in the desert. During his two years, where he stayed at the hospital, he began to start painting. This artist was convinced that art really helped him. In 1946, he decided to go to San Francisco to attend the courses of the artist Clyfford Still, before leaving for Paris in 1946.
His work is in various movements initiated and developed by American artists such as Pollock, de Kooning, Kline. Francis mainly used the technique of "dripping" in the composition of his works.