Robert Mangold (American, b. 1937)

Plane / Figure Series, Folded, 1993

Etching, soft ground and aquatint
Paper: 22 ½ x 30 in.; Image:19 ¼ x 27 ¾ in.; Framed: 26 x 33 in.

Robert Mangold emphasizes formal elements in his work, focusing on color, line, and composition over subject matter or narrative. His interest in ideas such as the fragment in relation to the whole and the two-dimensional concreteness of a painted canvas versus false illusionism, allows him to focus specifically on the problems of art making. His artistic concerns are self-reflexive; ultimately Mangold makes art about art.

Proponents of this type of formalism include artists like Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and art critic Clement Greenberg, who spoke religiously about the necessity of truth to materials. A painting, therefore, is nothing more than a two-dimensional surface with colored paint and lines on a canvas. Formalist analysis of artwork requires that all contextual information be eliminated, and ideas about art as social commentary be rejected.

Although Mangold adheres to these ideas, his monochromatic canvases often display hand-drawn graphite lines, and his palette has transitioned over time to warmer colors with subtle modulation. Because Mangold often produces variations on a theme, printmaking with its potential for serial imagery, has been a primary medium for the artist.

Mangold’s work is in the permanent collections of most major national and international museums.

More information on Robert Mangold can be found here:

https://www.pacegallery.com/artists/robert-mangold/

https://art21.org/watch/art-in-the-twenty-first-century/s6/robert-mangold-in-balance-segment/