Label Text
The work is comprised of two separate panels. In order to heighten the illusionistic effect...the artist has indicated specific instructions regarding the hanging of the painting and the spatial relationship of the two panels. He has also used obvious perspectival devices in his composition for illusionistic purposes.
The violets, oranges, and greens...appear at various times to be transparent, translucent, or opaque. In his painting Davis has melded the freedom of Abstract Expressionism with the rigorous system of three-dimensional perspective developed in the Renaissance.
Ron Davis was born in Santa Monica in 1937. He studied engineering at the University of Wyoming and art at the Yale Univerisity-Norfolk Summer School of Music and Art and at the San Francisco Art Institute.
Source: Bulletin, November-December, 1971.
The Finish Fetish movement, also known as the Los Angeles Look, was a minimalist movement specific to Los Angeles in the 1960s. Artists like Ronald Davis experimented with high-tech materials like polyester resins, which were increasingly popular in American industry. Finish Fetish artists used these artificial materials to produce brilliantly colored, clean-edged geometric forms. The illusionistic effect of two dimensions appearing as three dimensions is a key component of the work, achieved through perspectival devices and intricate hanging instructions regarding the spatial relationship of the two components. The sleek finish of Violet Truncated Pyramids is similar to the aesthetic of streamlined surfboards and sports cars, central to California popular culture.
Published ReferencesDMAC BULLETIN, Nov./Dec. 1971
DES MOINES ART CENTER: SELECTED PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES AND WORKS ON PAPER, Des Moines Art Center, 1985, ref. p.58, b/w ill. pl.38, p.59
The Finish Fetish movement, also known as the Los Angeles Look, was a minimalist movement specific to Los Angeles in the 1960s. Artists like Ronald Davis experimented with high-tech materials like polyester resins, which were increasingly popular in American industry. Finish Fetish artists used these artificial materials to produce brilliantly colored, clean-edged geometric forms. The illusionistic effect of two dimensions appearing as three dimensions is a key component of the work, achieved through perspectival devices and intricate hanging instructions regarding the spatial relationship of the two components. The sleek finish of Violet Truncated Pyramids is similar to the aesthetic of streamlined surfboards and sports cars, central to California popular culture.
Published ReferencesDMAC BULLETIN, Nov./Dec. 1971
DES MOINES ART CENTER: SELECTED PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES AND WORKS ON PAPER, Des Moines Art Center, 1985, ref. p.58, b/w ill. pl.38, p.59
DimensionsOverall: 72 × 231 in. (182.9 × 586.7 cm)
Accession Number 1971.1.a-.b
Classificationspainting
ProvenanceArtist. (Helman Gallery, St. Louis, MO); Des Moines Art Center [purchased from the previous, 1971]
Images (2)
