Martha Nessler Hayden American (b.1936) abstract figure, 1990 oil on paper Signed and dated lower left. Purchased from the artist in Indianapolis, Indiana. From the archives of AskArt: The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, BFA degree, 1961 Schule des Sehens, Salzburg, Austria, studied with Oskar Kokoschka, 1962 The University of Chicago, 1956-60 Bradley University, 1953-55 Instituto Allende, San Miguel, G.T.O. Mexico, 1957 Artist statement: "Painting for me is both realistic and abstract. It is on that elusive edge between there and not there. At first glance everything is in place and then it all dissolves. What I want is for realism and abstraction to take turns. I want a painting sometimes very evocative of time and place, sometimes overwhelming in abstract, structural logic. I am also concerned with spaces. It is analytic in terms of distance and volume, expressive, rhythmical, and fluid in terms of color. It is ordered volume, surprising color with a big interior space that draws the viewer in with logic of its own. I try to create excitement while ordering chaos. It is also about surface, about color and marks, about thick and thin paint, about using the tools of the craft. I try to make my shapes and color say something in them. I am concerned with the relationship between realism and rendering. Every mark, every color, every direction, changes everything done before. Each painting is a new work. I believe that my constructive, planar approach is a logical extension of cubism. My color is lyrical and intuitive, expressionist. I am a child of Cezanne, and I want to paint in that still unexplored and magical area where expressionism and cubism merge." 14"H x 19"W