Abstract Composition

1970–71

Not on view

The atmospheric, changing nature of perception and its relationship to color lays at the core of Bechara’s artistic practice. Influenced by French Neo-Impressionist pointillism, in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image, as well as the techniques of Byzantine mosaics, Bechara paints highly systematized geometric compositions based on sequences of squares. In the early 1970s, he devised a rigorous methodology of setting a grid on the canvas with masking tape, painstakingly painting one square after another according to a premeditated scale of colors, then changing the tape to paint another set of squares as the composition began to take its unforeseen final form. This repetitive mathematical sequencing establishes an overall pattern whose visual effect is unpredictable. Rigor and chance are thus intrinsically linked in the artist’s creative process.

Artwork Details

Overview

Inscriptions and Markings

Provenance

Title: Abstract Composition
Artist: Tony Bechara (Puerto Rican, 1939–2025)
Date: 1970–71
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 82 1/8 × 65 1/2 × 1 1/8 in. (208.6 × 166.4 × 2.9 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Gift of Clarice O. Tavares, 2023
Object Number: 2023.572
Rights and Reproduction: © Tony Bechara; Courtesy Lisson Gallery
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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