In conjunction with Joan Mitchell (1925-1992): An American Master, LUAG presents two exhibitions that survey the possibilities of abstraction as interpreted by select 20th and 21st century artists from the LUAG Teaching Collection, ABSTRACTION X 2 and ABSTRACTION x7. Exploring varied ideas of collage, found imagery, mark making and digital manipulation, each artist embodies an individual point of view within the broad and shifting spectrum of abstraction.

KAREL APPEL (1921-2006, Amsterdam) is one of the Netherlands’ most celebrated 20th century artists. In the years following his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam, he became a founding member of CoBrA. Established in 1948 and active through 1951, CoBrA (a title created by incorporating the first letters of the members’ cities of residence – Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam) rejected the formal and rationalist conventions of art establishment following World War II and adopted a doctrine that embraced the raw energy of primitive art, the imagination of children’s drawings, and a bright, bold palette. CoBrA was a milestone in the development of European abstract expressionism. Cats, a portfolio of sixteen lithographs, is a fanciful series of images that uses the rudimentary and often caricaturish figure of a cat as a point of departure. Appel pushes this figure to the limits of recognition as he explores permutations of line, shape, color and form. ___

LOUIS STETTNER (born in 1922 ) is a celebrated American photographer whose work includes iconic images of Paris and New York. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York but moved to Paris in the 1950s, where he now lives permanently with his family. As a teenager and young man, Stettner was a regular visitor to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to explore its photographic prints collection. His first camera was a wooden view camera and today he still shoots with film rather than moving to digital images. Stettner studied and taught at the Photo League until he went to Paris after the Second World War. He received his Bachelor of Arts, Photography & Cinema I.D.H.E.C. at Paris University. Throughout his life, he has gotten to know and work with many great photographers. Stettner visited Stieglitz’s gallery – An American Place – but was too scared to speak to him. After sending Stieglitz photographs, Stieglitz sent him a handwritten letter of thanks which Stettner cherished. A little later, Stettner visited Paul Strand, who supported his artistic endeavors and encouraged him to continue photography. Later in Paris the two men became friends. Now in his 80s, he continues to photograph with great energy. Stettner also spends significant time sculpting and painting, as well as mixing his work and ?painting? on some of his photographic images.