Michael Forster - Abstract Artwork

 

 Michael Forster (1907–2002) was an Anglo-Canadian abstract artist. Born in Kolkata, India, Forster spent most of his childhood in Meerut. He studied first at Lancing College in Sussex and then later at the Central School of Arts and Crafts (now Central St. Martins – University of the Arts), as well as the Académie Colarossi in Paris. In 1927–1928, he moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada in hopes of avoiding The Great Depression.
"Creatively, Forster explored the changing visual face of the universe long before astronauts began their travels. For most of his career, he took inspiration from the glowing patterns and chromatic depths of space. He composed infinitely varied and rich abstract compositions from the flux and fusion of the galaxies. In this, Michael Forster is virtually unique among painters. Forster possessed a passion for colour that gained recognition from the eminent German art-historian, Paul Westheim: “Colour is the medium of his expression, he has reduced all that is visible, all that is imaginable to colour, a strange and fantastic world of visionary colour. By means of colour, he knows how to give form to a whole range of emotions and feelings.” Forster’s concern for the material of paint itself led him to create brilliant surface textures that are uniquely personal. He worked the varied luminous passages across his canvas from corner to corner, leading the eye through subtle and constant changes. These rich variations remain regardless of the dimensions of his work. His smaller compositions on paper are compelling in their lustrous presence.
In 1960, Forster was honoured with a solo-exhibition of eighty works by Mexico’s Mueso Nacional de Arte Moderno. He has also been the subject of major retrospectives in Luxembourg and Canada. Forster’s paintings have been exhibited in leading museums of the world, including the National Gallery, Washington, Musee d’art Moderne, Paris, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the British Museum, and Sao Paulo Museum, Brazil. Loch Gallery is pleased to reintroduce this great artist to the Canadian public."(lochgallery.com)

 

Bernhard Luginbühl

 

Bernhard Luginbühl (16 February 1929 – 19 February 2011)was a Swiss sculptor.He created iron sculptures in the late 1950s. In 1976 he started with building giant wooden sculptures which he set on fire as an art event.His work featured a variety of materials, including iron, bones, wood and even weapons and industrial waste.After grad­u­at­ing from the School of Applied Arts in Bern (1948), Bernard Lug­in­bühl (*1929) started work­ing in Bern. The artist cre­ated his pieces in a vari­ety of media: wood, stone and pri­mar­ily since 1949, iron. In his lager than life-sized iron sculp­tures a sat­is­fy­ing mon­u­men­tal­ity encoun­ters a cre­ative play­ful­ness deeply rooted in the mate­r­ial. A char­ac­ter­is­tic of Luginbühl’s work is the ten­sion between move­ment and counter-movement, between dynamic ele­ments mov­ing into space and sup­port­ing struc­tures con­trol­ling the movements.“Every little thing has meaning for me,” said Luginbühl on the occasion of his 2003 exhibition at Museum Tinguely in Basel.A park in Bern showcases about 60 of his enormous rusty creations, including animal figures.In addition to sculpture, Luginbühl also produced graphic design, lyric poetry and more fleeting works such as burning things in public as a form of protest.The son of a butcher, the Bern-born Luginbühl remained very down-to-earth despite the critical acclaim he received.