Blues and Abstract Reality (1990)
Artist: Frank Stewart
Medium: Inkjet print
Location: Louisville, KYProvenance: Acquired from Frank Stewart in 2011. Loaned to Frank Stewart’s Nexus, a nationally touring exhibition presented by The Phillips Collection (2023–2024).Exhibition History:
The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
(Jun – Sept 2023)
The Baker Museum, Naples, FL
(Oct 2023 – Jan 2024)
Telfair Museums, Savannah, GA
(Feb – May 2024)
Brandywine Museum of Art, Chadds Ford, PA
(Jun – Sep 2024)
This is in a professional photographer's studio, as the Wynton Marsalis Septet and musicians from Duke Ellingtons group were morphing into the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Waiting around for the shoot to take place, I recognized the dramatic power of the composition, intending it as a wink at the cover of a 1961 album by composer and jazz saxophonist Oliver Nelson, The Blues and the Abstract Truth.