Margaret Neill

Abstract art is often misunderstood as it is most often non-representational and the viewers don’t quite know what is in front of them. At first glance, the work of Margaret Neill is simply an exploration of the possibilities of the line, but, when given a second or a third look, it is clearly an entire world described through those exact lines. The viewers are invited to join in her expedition as she discovers and portrays her relationship with time and space. She observes the patterns, both natural phenomena and human-made, such as weather patterns, maps or buildings, and transforms them into artworks that are complex, but also serene and in the state of constant flux.

Drawing

The drawing was the starting point and still is the main part of Neill’s work. Black and white introduced her into the world of art. Surroundings are transformed onto the paper and canvases as the viewers clearly feel all of the artist’s past experiences and sense the never-ending passing of time. The most important things for an artist are to have a lot of curiosity and to find a vision, no matter how much time it takes. Paper, linen, and canvas serve as a surface for Neill as she applies various mediums, such as colored pencil, charcoal, paint, and graphite. The whole process relies on intuition and is embedded in the artist’s personal experience, which is sublimated and appears through drawing and painting. She simply let the forms arrive.

The whole process relies on intuition and is embedded in the artist’s personal experience

Instinct

Margaret Neill received her BA from Hiram College, Hiram, OH, in 1978, and her MFA in Painting from Brooklyn College, New York, in 1984. She relies on instinct when creating art. It was the long rides in Ohio while she was a child, observing contours of the car and watching landscapes as they turn into something blurry that first gave Neill the idea that she could be an artist. Since then, art has become the best way to communicate with people around her. Also, it is a perfect way to really know yourself, to understand all the feelings and thoughts. Her artworks are included in many prestigious collections: Yale University Art Gallery, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, The New York Public Library, and many more, as well in numerous private collections.

Art is the best way to communicate with people

Communication

Neill relies on instinct and intuition and communicates with those around her in a way that she thinks is the most honest of them all – her art. From the childhood memories to the patterns only observable when a viewer reaches a certain age, her artworks are a summarization of her personal experiences that reach sublimation through the processes of painting, and especially drawing. Neill’s art dances on the delicate line that separates the ‘detective’ that carefully investigates forms of her surroundings and the artist with primal urges to express herself through the best means possible, combining the two to create amazing artworks.

She is represented by IdeelArt gallery in London, UK.

Margaret Neill lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Featured image: Margaret Neill – portrait, courtesy of IdeelArt

All images © Margaret Neill