Conflict
Born in Manila, Ossorio was an artist and collector who, in the late 1940s, entered the orbits of many artists associated with Abstract Expressionism, including Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, and Jackson Pollock. In response to Pollock’s early "drip" compositions, Ossorio developed a direct and gestural manner of experimental painting filled with dense thickets of lines and splatters. Conflict suggests a relative loosening of his style, which would later incorporate a wide range of found objects, both organic and manmade. A menacing dark form composed of an accumulation of short, assertive marks dominates the composition and calls to mind a disruptive or cataclysmic force.
Artwork Details
- Title: Conflict
- Artist: Alfonso Ossorio (American (born Philippines), Manila 1916–1990 New York)
- Date: 1956–57
- Medium: Oil on Masonite
- Dimensions: 48 × 48 in. (121.9 × 121.9 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Purchase, The Aaron E. Norman Fund, Inc. Gift, 1958
- Object Number: 58.24
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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