McArthur Binion (b. 1946, Macon, MS; lives and works in Chicago) combines collage, drawing, and painting to create autobiographical abstractions of painted minimalist patterns over a surface of personal documents and photographs. Photocopies of his birth certificate, pages from his address book, his passport photos, newspaper clippings, and photographs of his mother and childhood home constitute the tiled base of his works, over which he layers grids of oil stick. The complexly layered works, from a distance, appear to be monochromatic minimalist abstractions that have led many to compare his work to that of Jasper Johns, Robert Ryman, or Brice Marden. However, while his contemporaries focused more on materiality, abstraction, and in some cases the social and political climate of the time, Binion’s works are intensely personal and deeply dedicated to the rigorous process of making a painting. Upon closer inspection, these monochromatic abstractions come into focus: The perfect grid becomes a series of imperfect, laboriously hand-drawn lines, revealing intimate details of Binion’s identity and personal history. Binion’s gridded compositions impose rational order on the layers of personal history, showing only fragments of information from his birth certificate, or hints of details about his mother—but never enough to be immediately legible. Having begun his career as a writer, Binion is highly influenced by language and music, which can be seen in his titles and the ways he layers information to be “read” rather than simply seen. The tension that exists between the grid and the artist’s visible gestures is not unlike that of jazz music that merges improvisation with the order of a musical composition.
Binion received his BFA from Wayne State University, Detroit, in 1971, and his MFA from the Cranbook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI, in 1973. Binion’s works were featured prominently in the 57th Venice Biennale, VIVA ARTE VIVA, curated by Christine Macel. Solo exhibitions of his work have been organized at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, (2012); and the University of Maryland University College Gallery, Adelphi, MD (2010). Recent group exhibitions featuring his work includePicturing Mississippi, 1817-2017: Land of Plenty, Pain, and Promise, Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MI (2017); Dimensions of Black: a Collaboration with the San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art, Museum of Contemporary San Diego, San Diego (2017); New at NOMA: Recent Acquisitions in Modern and Contemporary Art, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans (2017); Through the African American Lens, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC (2017); Circa 1970, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2016); Prospect.3: Notes for Now, New Orleans (2014); When the Stars Begin to Fall: Imagination in the American South, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2014); and Black in the Abstract, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, (2013). His work is in numerous public and private collections, including the Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI; Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC; New Orleans Museum of Art; The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC; Wayne State University, Detroit; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
麥克阿瑟·比尼恩出生於1946年,於1971年獲得美國韋恩州立大學美術學士學位,並在1973年於克蘭布魯克藝術學院獲得藝術碩士學位。在過去的40多年的藝術創作中,比尼恩創造出極簡主義的自傳式抽象藝術風格,他始終致力於將拼貼、繪畫及油畫相結合,並把其個人紀念性物品拼貼於大尺寸網格畫布之上,這種覆雜而深刻的創作過程使他的藝術創作獨樹一幟。從遠處看,這些覆雜的層疊作品就像賈思培·瓊斯、羅伯特·瑞曼或布賴斯·馬登的單色極簡抽像畫作。然而,比起同期藝術家所留意的實質性、抽象化、甚至社會與政治氣候,比尼恩的作品非常貼近他的個人生活,並且十分嚴謹。仔細檢視下,這些單色的抽象方格其實是不完美的手繪線條,讓人近距離的感受比尼恩的身份和經歷。作為一個作家,比尼恩深受語言和音樂的影響,而我們亦可以由他的作品題目和他重疊資訊的方式領會到這個特質。跟爵士樂中即興與編曲的比重大同小異,比尼恩畫布上的方格和他繪畫的手法也充滿了張力。
比尼恩除了在第57屆威尼斯雙年展「VIVA ARTE VIVA」(2017年)展出作品,也曾舉辦個人展覽,包括美國休斯頓當代藝術博物館(2012年)及美國馬里蘭大學學院畫廊( 2010年)。他最近參與的群體展覽包括美國密西西比藝術館的「Picturing Mississippi, 1817-2017: Land of Plenty, Pain, and Promise」(2017年)、美國聖地亞哥當代藝術博物館的「Dimensions of Black: a Collaboration with the San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art」(2017年)、美國新奧爾良美術館的「New at NOMA: Recent Acquisitions in Modern and Contemporary Art」(2017年)、美國國立非裔美國人歷史和文化博物館的「Through the African American Lens」(2017年)、美國紐約哈林工作室博物館的「Circa 1970」(2016年)和「When the Stars Begin to Fall: Imagination in the American South」(2014年)、以及美國休斯頓當代藝術博物館的「Black in the Abstract」(2013年)。他的作品可見於多個公營及私人收藏,包括美國密歇根克蘭布魯克藝術博物館、美國底特律藝術學院、美國肯尼亞堪薩斯城肯珀當代藝術博物館、美國紐約大都會藝術博物館、美國國立非裔美國人歷史和文化博物館、美國新奧爾良美術館、美國菲利普斯收藏館、美國底特律韋恩州立大學和美國紐約惠特尼美國藝術博物館。