Alvin D. Loving

His work is known for hard-edge abstraction, dyed fabric paintings, and large paper collages, all exploring complicated color relationships.

[3] Within a year of moving to New York City, Loving had his first solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

That freed me to just paint and let things evolve...[The square] was pure energy and focus.”[7] These geometric abstractions conveyed the brilliance of refracted light; they were not just experiments in color.

Other artists, including Sam Gilliam, Alan Shields, and Richard Moch, were also using the sewing machine at this time to create fabric constructions.

Loving quickly took a liking to the casualness of tearing cardboard and gluing it onto other pieces; in fact, he considered this practice abstract expressionist as well.

Unlike the dyed fabric paintings, the large paper collages gave him a sense of freedom because he was trekking through uncharted territory.

Loving integrated circles and spirals into these collages as a nod to his African roots and as an expression of growth and continued life.

Sandra Yolles, reviewing an exhibition in 1990, explained "Loving’s work is about earth, wind, fire, and water: some pieces might be considered atmospheric maps of life at full blast—stretching the possibilities of the human spirit by delineating its directions, currents, and eddies.