March 7 – 26, 1966
Art Gallery, Eugenia Fuller Atwood Library
1966 BEAVER NEWS
“Action Exhibited in Shape, Motion by Artist McKinney” by Susan Wood
The word “action” denotes participation, and, although formally linked as a painting term with the non-objective art of abstract expressionists, it can also be applied to the oils and pastels by Robert McKinney, currently on display in the Library Gallery.
Even though his work is abstract, being inspired by nature forms and not non-representational, he, in his attempt to have the spectator increase his awareness by seeing beyond the visible, encourages the onlooker not only to contemplate but also to become a part of his pictures. He obtains this involvement with a masterful manipulation of space through movement.
Rhythmic Patterns
The painter reveals this movement in his rhythmic patterns in two manners. The first is the more violent motion of “Street in the Rain” and “La Mer after Debussy” whose curvilinear forms actually draw the observer into the space, creating a strong sense of depth. The second is the surface movement of shapes and contours of “The Cornstalks” that retains the two-dimensional quality of the picture plane rather than destroying it in favor of a greater space.
Color is an important part of this artist’s patterns and, “Cape Cod No. 12” and “Bird in Flight” show how it is employed. Accents are present, yes, but they are not sharply delineated forms; they emerge and are engulfed again into the main flow of the canvas.
This flow of the sure, swift brush of thinly applied color reaches an apex in “Seascape with Yellow Sun,” for this painting depicts in its sky and sea that distinguish themselves by a faint differing of swell of shape, the beautiful subtlety of movement that an artist may express.
