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Bright Sand Black Sky by Seong Moy

Bright Sand Black Sky by Seong Moy

Bright Sand Black Sky

Seong Moy

Title

Bright Sand Black Sky

 
Artist

Seong Moy

  1921 - 2013 (biography)
Year
1969  
Technique
color woodcut 
Image Size
20 1/4 x 16" image 
Signature
pencil, lower right 
Edition Size
27 of 50  
Annotations
titled in pencil, lower left; dated after the signature 
Reference
Syracuse .020 
Paper
antique-white laid Japanese 
State
published 
Publisher
artist 
Inventory ID
MOY107 
Price
SOLD
Description

In 1968 Seong Moy traveled to Jamaica, visiting the popular resort town of Montego Bay. The capital of St. James parish, Montego Bay is also known as the place where the indigenous Arawak tribe first greeted Christopher Columbus when he landed there in 1494. It's known for its bright white sands and turquoise waters, and has been a place of inspiration for generations of artists.

For this late Abstract Expressionist composition, "Bright Sand Black Sky", Moy employed his favorite printmaking medium, color woodcut. The artist's use of the negative space and bright color creates the sparkle of the tropical landscape, perhaps seen here at nightfall, or just prior to a storm.

Chinese born Seong Moy (1921-2013) came to the US (Minnesota) when he was 10. Moy worked in the WPA and studied with Hans Hoffman in 1940 and at Atelier 17 with S.W. Hayter in New York, working in a combination of abstracted Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. Moy's work, though abstract in its composition, drew on the calligraphic imagery of the Chinese language.