Description

The black orbs in Kenneth Young’s untitled abstraction are deceptive. They seem alternately microscopic, like organisms floating in a fluid field, or cosmic, like bits of matter captured in a split second. Opaque at the center, the spheres are fluid at their edges. The space, too, is ambiguous. Deep reds seem distant; electric blues propel dark forms forward from unfathomable depths. Energy and matter were apt subjects for Young, a young physicist who turned to painting: “I’ve always been interested in…outer space, inner space, and the development of what occurs – force, magnetism, and that kind of thing.”African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond, 2012

Record Contributed By

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Record Harvested From

Smithsonian Institution