Australian Abstract
Amber Creswell Bell
Thames & Hudson
Amber Creswell Bell poses the question, “What is Abstract?” and delves into the practices of forty-one Australian abstract artists to find the answer in her fifth publication with Thames & Hudson titled Australian Abstract.
The book explores the painterly expressive and gestural genre as Creswell Bell unpacks its complex theories and how its freedom of representational qualities has led to a constant evolution of presentation. By focusing on each artist separately, Creswell Bell provides the reader with a deep personal connection with their work, from colour to line, medium to composition. She applies a scholarly yet fresh vision to Australian abstract art; however, she has admittedly omitted Aboriginal art, which may be seen as a divisive decision by artists, critics, and academics who have long claimed that both terms can be used fluidly and are not separate. But for Creswell Bell, “to include work so rich in historical and cultural significance of country is reductive at worse or tokenistic at best.” A rationalisation backed by the limitations of print and the abundance of abstract art in the country, historical and present, Indigenous and non-Indigenous. Perhaps this is just one volume in a series of publications to come on the genre by the author.
Redirecting our focus to published content; the artists in this volume deserve mention: Jo Davenport, James Drinkwater, Ember Fairbairn, Gregory Hodge, Marisa Purcell, and Stephen Ormandy, to name a few. Creswell Bell examines their artmaking from the point of view of content rather than form, outlining styles, subjects, visions, and philosophies. We learn of their influences and inspirations, such as jazz, nature, science and geometry, the ability to express emotion and experience without words, and the magnetic pull that attracted them to abstract art.
Each narrative is complemented by a number of featured abstract works; each page is an eruption of colour, form, and adventurous creativity. The chaos of compositions balance perfectly with informative explanations and insight into a curated snippet of the “now” of Australian abstract art.
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Originally published in Art Almanac’s May 2023 print issue.
