Illustration and Artistic Practice

Artists Agnes Martin, Jennifer Bartlett, and Xyler Jane, explore rational abstract systems to underscore the philosophies of boredom, certainty, goodness, and the beautiful. In my presentation, I will look at the work of these three women artists through the lens of the philosophical work of Iris Murdock, Philippa Foot and Elaine Scarry. I will also contrast this work with forms of post-critique and the current work of Rita Felski. Endorsing Thomas Wartenberg’s thesis, my hope is to present an argument that offers a complex and contemporary analysis of grid-based abstraction as an immutable idea of goodness.