Blue Rational/Irrational | Cleveland Museum of Art

Blue Rational/Irrational

1969

Al Loving

(American, 1935–2005)

Acrylic on canvas

147 x 322.5 cm (57 7/8 x 126 15/16 in.)

Gift of the KeyBank Collection 2019.58

© The Estate of Al Loving and Garth Greenan Gallery, New York

Location: 224A Contemporary Corridor

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Did You Know?

This work debuted in Al Loving: Paintings (1969) at the Whitney Museum, the museum’s first solo exhibition by an African American artist.

Description

Across both canvases of this large-scale diptych, Loving evokes a three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface through strategic layerings of cubic forms and carefully calibrated color juxtapositions. Around the time Loving made this work he wrote, “I am tired of objects on walls. The wall must be pierced, brought forward, pushed back.” Blue Rational/Irrational is a bold manifestation of this sentiment.

Blue Rational/Irrational

Blue Rational/Irrational

1969

Al Loving

(American, 1935–2005)

America

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Color and Line

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