Although the early 20th century paintings of Picasso and Braque are cited as seminal in abstract art, it was not until the 1930’s that the movement found its full swing in America. And by 1950, Jackson Pollock and the Abstract Expressionists pushed their visions to yet another limit and established New York as the center of the art world.
Since then, abstraction has been entrenched internationally as one of the most dominant forms of visual expression. But the problem is that, while many thousands of artists have tried their hand at abstraction, the great majority have failed. Although artists may be sincere and passionate in their pursuit, the fact remains that there are only two kinds of art: good and bad. Unfortunately, too many painters have fallen far short of what the British art critic Clive Bell, called “significant form” way back in 1913.
Which brings us to Eugene Healy.
Healy is one of the few abstract painters today who have clearly grasped “significant form” . . . that is, the orchestration of lines, shapes, and colors into certain combinations and relationships so that the completed work evokes an aesthetic ecstasy. They move us. It’s just that simple . . . yet so immensely difficult to pull off.
Many of Healy’s paintings are abstractions of shore scenes, being places that have evoked particular moods and feelings in the artist. And it those feelings that he so effectively materializes with paint , sand , fragments of printed fabrics, even pieces of window screens. Yet what is generally not known about the artist is that in the process of capturing those feelings just right, he returns to each work, over and over, almost obsessively making changes until he is certain his feelings sing. Lucky are those who can share his vision and hear his melody.
- Peter Hastings Falk