YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Butler Institute of American Art will present “Pure Abstractions from the Collection,” an exhibition of some of the best abstract art in the museum’s collection, from Oct. 7 to Dec. 7.

The exhibition will be in the Davis Gallery. Some of the artists included are Ronald Davis, Leon Polk Smith, Nassos Daphnis, Nicholas Krushenick and Douglas D. Craft.

Louis Zona, executive director of the museum, said abstract art needs to be thought of as music without words.

“It is really all about something called ‘form,’ which is the underlying structure of a work of art,” he said. “The famous abstract painter Frank Stella once commented about his abstraction with this thought: What you see is all there is. That is true to a degree, but that insinuates that abstract art is just simple designs on a canvas. With most abstraction, there is a concept beneath it.”

As an example, Zona said the works by abstract expressionists, such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, became the first international art movement created by Americans.

“Often referred to as the New York School, it was big and powerful and reflected the nature of America at that time in our history, when Americans were seen as being able to accomplish anything that we put our minds to,” he said.

Here is a look at some of the artists in the new exhibition:

  • Davis (born in 1937) is a painter known since the early 1960s for his use of geometric abstraction, abstract illusionism, shaped canvas painting and 3D computer graphics. His works were shown at The Butler in 2002.
  • The paintings by Smith (1906-1996) are geometrically oriented and influenced by Piet Mondrian, with his best-known works constituting maximally reduced forms, characterized by just two colors on a canvas meeting in a sharply delineated edge – often on an unframed canvas of unusual shape. Smith’s works were shown at The Butler in 1988.
  • Daphnis (1914-2010) was renowned for his vibrant geometric abstractions. Over the course of his career, he developed a unique visual language that combined rigorous formalism with a deep sense of color and spatial harmony. His works were shown at The Butler in 1993.
  • Krushenick (1929-1999) studied painting at the Arts Students League of New York and the Hans Hoffman School of Fine Arts. Krushenick first developed his signature “pop abstract” style in the early 1960s. The loose geometries and weblike forms of his early paintings demonstrate his deliberate caricature of abstract expressionist “drips” or “skeins” into what more closely resemble details from cartoons. 
  • Craft (1924-2015) is an abstract painter and educator who has been represented in exhibitions at The Butler.

Pictured at top: Nicholas Krushenick’s untitled piece (a collage-acrylic) and Douglas D. Craft’s “The Red One” (acrylic, oil on canvas) are part of the upcoming show at The Butler.