At 90, Etel Adnan Is Just Another Artist In Her Prime

The Wall Street Journal does a profile of the Levantine-turned-California painter-poet, Etel Adnan who is seeing a market emergence as she begins her 10th decade. Although Adnan’s work first gathered attention when it was shown four years ago at Documenta 13, her work has been popping up consistently at art fairs as well as now getting gallery shows around the world. The WSJ thinks this is remarkable considering today’s taste:

The fact that artistic renown has descended upon a nonagenarian woman who paints tiny abstractions and writes poetry and prose of quiet force and complexity might seem like a historical accident. Today’s contemporary art market, after all, places a premium on large, shiny, expensive objects. Adnan’s work is the anti-Ozymandias—a corrective to exuberant art-world bling. There is none of the bravado or self-regarding mythologizing of other artists of her stature. And yet, invitations stream in daily for exhibitions, collaborations and symposia. “I am happy it didn’t happen any sooner,” Adnan says of all the attention, adding, “It’s ironic, isn’t it, at a time when I can’t really use the money.”

 

Why the Art World Has Fallen for 90-Year-Old Etel Adnan (WSJ)