Scissors Blue

Manuel Izquierdo (1925-2009); Izquierdo, Manuel (1925-2009)

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Scissors Blue

Description

Scissors Blue, like Antelope Flower on view in the lobby, involves a combination of painted and unpainted metal that Manuel Izquierdo explored in the wake of the Fountain Gallery fire of 1977. The Fountain, Portland's major art gallery in the 1960s and 1970s, was completely destroyed along with the work of many Pacific Northwest artists. Some of Izquierdo's pieces were retrievable, and in the process of cleaning them, he became interested in the contrast between the clean metal surfaces and the dark charring still present in adjacent areas. He began to experiment with color in order to approximate the two-tone effect that he found appealing on the partially cleaned work.