Brooklyn Museum — Leon Polk Smith
This past weekend I visited the Brooklyn Museum. It was the first museum that I visited since I moved to New York City. At the Brooklyn Museum, they have a Brooklyn Abstraction: Four Artists, Four Walls exhibition on the third floor. The goal of this exhibition is to showcase four artists while creating a visually immersive experience.
One instillation of work from those walls that stood out to me is by Leon Polk Smith. Smith is an American painter who was born in Chickasha, Indian Territory (Oklahoma) then later moved to New York City. His work consisted of geometrically oriented abstract, “hard-edge”, paintings which were influenced by Piet Mondrian, a Dutch painter who also created abstract paintings but from squares and rectangles. Smith was an educator while pursuing painting. Although he did not have formal training in fine arts, he had his first solo exhibition at Uptown Gallery in NYC in 1941, but the Brooklyn Museum hosted his first and major retrospective, Leon Polk Smith: American Painter, in 1995.
Smith’s work stood out to me because it was simple yet effective. He used flat paintings, vibrant colors, landscapes, and inspiration from Native tribes and communities that he grew up around. I appreciated the bright and contrast colors he use because they are bold and effective especially when creating interesting dimensions to the geometric shapes he made in his paintings.
I believe his work can be helpful to UX designers today. Designers need to keep accessibility in mind when they design their products and services. Color contrast plays a huge part especially in accessibility design. It helps users to properly read and interact with the content well. As we go into the ideation phase then later prototyping, I will keep in mind this experience I had with Leon Polk Smith’s paintings and implement such a minor detail to my designs that greatly impacts users lives daily.
