Abiquiu, Carol Haerer

Exhibition Label: "Forms of Thought," Mar-2014, Kris Ercums Carol Haerer likened her own art to the intimate yet expansive vision of artist Georgia O’Keeffe. This painting was conceived when Haerer spent the summer of 1968 at Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico, in view of the butte Abiquiu. Created in Haerer’s New York City studio over a nine month period, Abiquiu attempts to capture the space and light of New Mexico. The half-circle shape of the canvas evokes the artist’s field of vision when viewing the vast landscape. Archive Label 2003: Linking her own approach to the intimate yet expansive vision of artist Georgia O’Keeffe, Carol Haerer conceived the image for this painting when she spent the summer of 1968 in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico, in view of the butte Abiquiu. She painted Abiquiu back in her New York City studio over the next nine months, trying to capture the space and light of New Mexico. She connects the half-circle shape of this canvas to her field of vision when viewing the vast landscape. This is one of a series of “white” paintings that Haerer executed between 1965 and 1976, many of which were inspired by the sky over the Nebraska plains where she spent her childhood. In the history of modern art, artists have often used white paintings to reduce content and image to a minimum.