Fugitive Abstraction

Abstract

In this paper, I analyse Gordon Bennett’s Stripe series of abstract paintings, examining in particular their connection to the work of Frank Stella and the aesthetic modernism of Michael Fried and Theodor Adorno. Focusing in part on Number Nine (2008) from the Stripe series, I develop the notion of ‘fugitive abstraction’ to describe the achievement of Bennett in the abstracts as both exposing and averting the racialised gaze that constrained the reception of his work. Rather than read the paintings as positing an identity, I explore how Bennett sought to escape from such a framework. I argue that the abstracts offer a compelling, aesthetically rich experience whose demand emerges from the formal attributes of the paintings. This contrasts with the dominant critical reception of Bennett, as well as more recent scholarship that incorporates the abstracts into a developing, progressive narrative of his practice. I suggest that, in attempting to avert this dilemma, Bennett sought to expose the limitations of his critical reception, and exceed them by painterly accomplishment. By locating Bennett more firmly in the modernist tradition, I propose that we can more deeply engage with the Stripe series, as well as better understand Bennett’s wider project.