Bringing the Art to You Week #37 Untitled (Blue Circle with Black Abstract) , 1984, watercolor on paper, 6” x 5 1/2" Here is a small watercolor painting from the 1980s reminiscent of the large, Zen-Buddhist inspired void paintings Dusti Bongé did around that time. Having long been interested in Buddhism, Dusti lived by its tenets in her daily life as well as in her artistic pursuits. Dusti’s voids were based on the Buddhist concept referring to “emptiness" or “voidness" which teaches that everything one encounters in life is empty of absolute identity or permanence, because ultimately everything is interrelated. This idea applies to everything around us, and ourselves as well. This is not a nihilistic way of understanding the world, but rather a transcendent one. What makes the voids so compelling is that Dusti is both trying to achieve a kind of transcendent state in her act of painting as well as trying to capture this notion of transcendence in her work. In this watercolor there is an interplay between the black marks against the circular blue shape. While the large horizontal black ovoid form below the circle seems to anchor the other black marks, once they start overlapping into the blue, their presence becomes much more ethereal, suggesting that there is no permanence. In addition, even though both the blue circle and the main black marks are almost centered, the painting achieves a sense of balance without relying on actual symmetry. Have you seen this work? Do you or someone you know have this work in their collection? If so, we would love to hear from you. We are continually working to maintain as complete a record as possible, and to determine the location of all of Dusti Bongé's work. If you have information on this, or other works, you can contact us at
[email protected] We appreciate receiving any referrals to the existence and whereabouts of artworks by Dusti Bongé. Thank you. You can now view some of these works on our website: https://www.dustibonge.org/missing-works.html Available in our store: The definitive volume on artist Dusti Bongé, by J. Richard Gruber Dusti Bongé, Art and Life: Biloxi, New Orleans, New York Hard bound, 12” x 9”, 350 pages, over 500 color and b&w illustrations Limited edition lithographs of two original Dusti Bongé drawings. Shrimp Boats & Factories, Back Bay Biloxi I and Shrimp Boats & Factories, Back Bay Biloxi II 12” x 16” drawing, 15” x 22” paper size https://www.dustibonge.org/store.html support us Our mission: to promote the artistic legacy of Dusti Bongé (1903-1993)
