Alvin Loving

Rational Irrationalism
1969

Complex geometric shapes made up of interlocking lines, similar to cubes, seen from above.

In 1969, three years after Alvin Loving had moved to New York City from the Midwest, he had a solo exhibition at the Whitney. Unlike other African American artists whose art focused on the racial politics of the era, Loving was an abstract artist whose works from this period, including Rational Irrationalism, were built upon strict yet simple geometric shapes, often hexagonal or cubic modules. Inspired by German Abstract Expressionist Hans Hoffmann (who taught Loving’s mentor from Michigan, Al Mullen), Loving concentrated on the tension between flatness and spatial illusionism. He explored this tension using a hard-edged geometric vocabulary related to Minimalism and Op art—as in Rational Irrationalism, which utilizes a strategic layering of cubic forms and juxtaposition of warm and cool colors to create an optical play of three-dimensionality on a flat support.

Visual Description

Alvin Loving,Rational Irrationalism, 1969.Rational Irrationalismis an acrylic painting on a shaped canvas. The painting measures 82 ⅛ inches tall by 97 inches wide.

This work plays with spatial illusion, and Loving intentionally created a geometric shape that looks like it’s almost popping off the wall at the viewer. Depicted are two large overlapping open-faced cubes positioned diagonally on their sides, with the corners of the cubes oriented up and down, creating multiple right-angled edges on the outsides of the work. This work itself is not rectangular, but instead takes the shape of the diagonally-tilted overlapping cube forms. Each of these large cubes is made up of four smaller sub-cubes. All sides of the sub-cubes are visible and differentiated with thin outlines of glowing neon hues like yellow, pink, green, red, blue, purple, light orange, and rust. Where the two large cubes overlap in the center of the work, there sits yet another, smaller cube, like a nesting doll. The inner cube has yellow base lines, light orange and rust inner lines, and a white top lines. Some lines on the edges of the shape are dark, filled in areas to indicate shadows. The shadows are inconsistent allowing this piece to be viewed from multiple angles and initiate shifting perspectives.

Conceptually, Loving mediates and meditates on optical illusion within the limitations of painterly expression. Relationships of geometric harmony and balance form the central precepts of this composition. It is important to note: after making this artwork, Loving began to think about quiltmaking. Much of this work expresses the mathematical rigor that hallmarks the quiltmaking tradition, and his attempts to investigate the dimensionality of this tradition through another medium.

Not on view

Date
1969

Classification
Paintings

Medium
Acrylic on shaped canvas

Dimensions
Overall (Irregular): 82 1/8 × 97in. (208.6 × 246.4 cm)

Accession number
69.74a-b

Credit line
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Robert C. Scull Fund for Young Artists not in the Collection

Rights and reproductions
Courtesy the Estate of Al Loving and Garth Greenan Gallery, New York

API
artworks/2284

Audio

Verbal Description: Alvin Loving, Rational Irrationalism, 1969

In In the Balance: Between Painting and Sculpture, 1965–1985

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Verbal Description: Alvin Loving, Rational Irrationalism, 1969

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Narrator: Alvin Loving, Rational Irrationalism, 1969. Rational Irrationalism is an acrylic painting on a shaped canvas. The painting measures 82 ⅛ inches tall by 97 inches wide.
This work plays with spatial illusion, and Loving intentionally created a geometric shape that looks like it’s almost popping off the wall at the viewer. Depicted are two large overlapping open-faced cubes positioned diagonally on their sides, with the corners of the cubes oriented up and down, creating multiple right-angled edges on the outsides of the work. This work itself is not rectangular, but instead takes the shape of the diagonally-tilted overlapping cube forms. Each of these large cubes is made up of four smaller sub-cubes. All sides of the sub-cubes are visible and differentiated with thin outlines of glowing neon hues like yellow, pink, green, red, blue, purple, light orange, and rust. Where the two large cubes overlap in the center of the work, there sits yet another, smaller cube, like a nesting doll. The inner cube has yellow base lines, light orange and rust inner lines, and a white top lines. Some lines on the edges of the shape are dark, filled in areas to indicate shadows. The shadows are inconsistent allowing this piece to be viewed from multiple angles and initiate shifting perspectives.
Conceptually, Loving mediates and meditates on optical illusion within the limitations of painterly expression. Relationships of geometric harmony and balance form the central precepts of this composition. It is important to note: after making this artwork, Loving began to think about quiltmaking. Much of this work expresses the mathematical rigor that hallmarks the quiltmaking tradition, and his attempts to investigate the dimensionality of this tradition through another medium.
Alvin Loving, Rational Irrationalism, 1969

In In the Balance: Between Painting and Sculpture, 1965–1985 (Spanish)

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Alvin Loving, Rational Irrationalism, 1969

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Narrator: A Alvin Loving le fascinaba la ilusión espacial, una temática que exploró a lo largo de su carrera. Esta entrevista con el artista se grabó en la emisora radial WFUV en la ciudad de Nueva York en 1973.
Alvin Loving: El principal problema que se me planteaba era romper el plano de la imagen.
Narrator: Con esto, lo que quiso decir es que no quería que la imagen que estaba creando estuviese limitada por la planitud del lienzo físico. Le fascinaba la posibilidad de crear una sensación de profundidad tridimensional que pudiera cambiar la visión del espacio del espectador—y quizás tener un impacto en su experiencia real de vida en el mundo.
Alvin Loving: Que, como pintor, decir que los límites con los que trabajamos ya no son suficientes.
Siempre sentí que la composición es lo que realmente articula la realidad que vivimos, cualquiera que sea. Y creo que la responsabilidad del artista es proyectar hacia dónde irá esa realidad en la que está viviendo. Es decir, si es que el artista tiene alguna responsabilidad, considero que es preparar a las personas para las cosas que están a punto de sucederles.
Narrator: [Los créditos de este audio son de] Arlene Slavin y Vivienne Thaul Wechter. [La] entrevista [se hizo] con Arlene Slavin, Alvin Loving y Brenda Miller para la serie radial Today’s World, ca. 1973 [como parte de] las entrevistas radiales de la WFUV relacionadas con el arte, 1969-1973. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Alvin Loving, Rational Irrationalism, 1969

In In the Balance: Between Painting and Sculpture, 1965–1985

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Alvin Loving, Rational Irrationalism, 1969

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Narrator: Alvin Loving was fascinated by spatial illusion, and would explore it throughout his career. This interview with the artist was recorded at WFUV radio station in New York, in 1973.
Alvin Loving: The primary problem I was working with was breaking the picture plane.
Narrator: By that, he meant that he didn't want the image he was creating to be limited by the flatness of the physical canvas. He was fascinated by the possibility that creating a sense of three-dimensional depth could change a viewer's sense of space—and maybe impact their real, lived experience of the world.
Alvin Loving: I've always felt that composition was really what articulated what any given reality was about. And I think the artist's responsibility is to kind of project on where that reality that he's living in is going to go. That is, if an artist has any responsibility at all it's to kind of prepare people for things that are about to happen to them.
Narrator: [This audio is credited to] Arlene Slavin and Vivienne Thaul Wechter. [The] Interview [was conducted] with Arlene Slavin, Alvin Loving, and Brenda Miller for the Today's World radio series, circa 1973. [as part of] WFUV radio interviews relating to art, 1969-1973. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.