We just added a series of new work in limited edition print by Brisbane artist and design aficionado Gert Geyer. After seeing these pieces up on the wall, I couldn't escape the reference to a painting that I love by Charles Demuth 'I saw the figure 5 in gold' 1928. Demuth was a leader of the modernist movement called Precisionism and a group of artists known as the Immaculates. It is believed that the style was coined Precisionism by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) founder and director Alfred H Barr due to the clean edge forms and painterly precision. Subjects mainly included industrial landscapes and the movement is commonly associated with that subject matter, however the artists were not so keen on this pigeon hole believing that nature was an essential part of their work. 'I saw the figure 5 in gold' was inspired by a poem written by William Carlos Willams and my connection with Geyer's new work goes beyond its aesthetic precision to the actual inspiration and subject of the work, which is essentially the poetry of the environment (both urban and natural) being reduced to its absolute minimum form. The manner in which Geyer works, from collage to digital, achieves a level of precision that the Immaculates could really only dream of achieving through paint. Her work in my opinion realizes their goal more completely. It is an exciting retake & homage to a somewhat forgotten movement that is almost 100 years old.

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  [caption id="attachment_14364" align="alignleft" width="517"] I saw the figure 5 in Gold - Charles Demuth 1928[/caption]  

Among the rain

and lights

I saw the figure 5

in gold

on a red

firetruck

moving

tense

unheeded

to gong clangs

siren howls

and wheels rumbling

through the dark city

[caption id="attachment_14224" align="alignright" width="800"] Flame Trees, 2015. Limited Edition Print by Gert Geyer[/caption]

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We have been included in Brisbane's equivalent of NYC's Gallery Guide, an up to date calendar and resource for what's going on in the art world in Brisbane. Great times ahead for the flourishing Queensland art scene with initiatives like this taking the reigns and establishing a cultural scene in this great city. Keep up to date with art in Brisbane by subscribing to their website BNE ART!

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Yesterday we added a new portfolio of artwork in fine art print by Brisbane artist Gert Geyer. [caption id="attachment_10482" align="alignleft" width="356"] Red House, 2014.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_10497" align="alignright" width="348"] Peach House, 2014.[/caption]

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TW: We’ve known each other for some time now, but it has been a while since I saw your work in person. There seems to have been a gradual departure away from the type of work you were making when we lived in New York. I once got a verbal scolding when I said to Mike Goldberg that the paintings he made on the Italian Coast during the summer had a different quality about them to the work he made in New York City - I still believe it to be true despite what he said ;-).  I’m therefore hesitant to ask, but how much has the environment in Israel influenced the evolution of your work? KP: I believe that the geographical and political environment we live and work in has a great influential force on the work, as well as the personal and psychological dispositions of the artist. By geographical I mean both natural and architectural scenery as well as a specific quality of light. if you look at the classical northern European paintings you find a unique  quality of light you won't find elsewhere, and the reason to that is the natural light that these great painters knew. Mike Goldberg was part of the New York school of abstract expressionists, who were very much influenced by the writings of Clement Greenberg. One of these painters' endeavors was to create an arena of painting that is exclusive, in which subject matter can only be painting itself, with regard to its history alone. Personally I think that painting cannot release itself from pre knowledge of vision. however, that ideology may explain the verbal scolding coming from Mike... TW: Absolutely, Mike was a purist in that sense but I totally agree with you. The environment around is inescapable, how could it not influence both his perception and use of space and color. I think in retrospect he might look down and agree. Was that a clap of thunder? KP: A few months after I moved back to Tel Aviv, I felt I had to find new approaches to my work, to come up with a different technique than the one I was developing in NY. I decided to put paint aside for a while and was only drawing for a few months, until I felt that one of the drawings needed a space [see painting below]. That space was very much derived by the seascape seen from my studio window, and the beginning of a long painting period which led to the work you are about to show in your gallery. TW: Your earlier paintings were quite process based, with a lot of spontaneous gestural drawing and layering, where you would scrape away the paint with a large pallet knife or squeegee to build the surface. The resulting abstractions had visual references to the photograph or negative. It looks as through the paint brush has returned in your more recent works. Would you say that the content, or subject matter of your later work has driven the type of materials and tools that you use? That being said, has the content of the work become more interesting to you than the process? KP: It is true that the process or the technique was much more evident and extroverted in the older work, and that the decisions that were made while working were more spontaneous because of the rapid nature of the work. However, the full content always reveals itself through the work, and I never know where the work on a painting would lead me to. It is always the process that really creates the work for me, not so much an idea or prevision, even though every painting begins with one. I think that along my evolution as a painter what mainly changed is the temper or tempo. I would say that the Temper of the older work had more to do with hysteria and hunger whereas now it is stiller. Also, the older work was more physical and it's substance more evident, almost like sculpture, the new work is lighter in substance and tends to the gaze more than to the body. TW: I know your art vocabulary is very extensive. Who have you been looking at recently? Who have you found interesting and/or inspirational? KP: Last June I took part in a project by Gilad Ratman that represented Israel at the Venice Biennale and thus was able to look at the fabulous work of a Belgium painter named Thierry de Cordier  that was shown there. His dark seascapes stayed with me ever since. also, a few years back i saw Peter Doig at the British Museum, which i found very interesting and I believe had touched my work. [caption id="attachment_10455" align="aligncenter" width="577"] Seascape - Thierry de Cordier[/caption] [caption id="attachment_10454" align="aligncenter" width="587"] The Milky Way - Peter Doig[/caption] TW: The horizon has always been a part of your work in some form or another, plastically and or conceptually. I remember a beautiful piece that you did a long time ago (during the more process driven period) where the canvas was seamed together to create an horizon. The horizon has become much more a part of these later paintings. What is it about the horizon that interests you? KP: Wow i really can't believe you remember that, it's fantastic! You are right, the horizon carries a great metaphorical meaning for me thanks to its liminal quality. To me It represents the meeting place and conciliation of endless dichotomies such as mind and matter, knowledge and faith, catastrophe and salvation, etc etc. I think that the clash of such dichotomies lies at the root of our being and is a source of great wonder as well as deep agony and frustration. TW: Your newer paintings have a darker, more brooding color pallet in contrast to the lighter, quite joyous paintings from Series 1. Has this been conscious and where do you feel the work is heading? KP: True, the work has lately become less joyous and more dramatic. The conscious decision, which of course is only part of the full picture, was to examine the roll of color in my work. I wanted to see to what extent the work relied on color, and if I only painted monochromes, when or if  the use of color became a necessity. Also, to me there is something very strong about the vast white fields. They carry the quality of a silent and ambiguous desire craved to be fulfilled, and this is also a good metaphor to end with regarding where the work is heading; It is an ambiguity that I desire to reveal. [caption id="attachment_10476" align="aligncenter" width="708"] Untitled 2014 - Keren Paz[/caption] We are thrilled to be exhibiting Keren's work. For a great art experience, be sure to visit the TWFineArt Gallery in September and see it in person!

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Keren used to describe one her favorite places in the world to me, Mt Sinai. Her tender descriptions communicated a deep love of the environment which I always found hard to imagine. At the time we were city dwellers, painting in studios that were embedded deep in the urban jungle of Chelsea - New York City. Our lives were for the most part lived in shadows, with no clear horizon. New York City can be like a giant fish tank. We never left the city together the entire time we shared it. Paz has been living in Israel for almost 10 years now and over this time I have seen the environment and landscape creep back into her art. The passionate spoken descriptions of Mt Sinai have translated into delicately handled paintings that are labored with love. The transition has been slow and subtle but it there is no denying it now. Despite the tender beauty of the new work, there is a barren, brooding mood inherent in each painting. The tones of color imply an impending storm rising from the stillness. Whether it is intentional or not, Keren's art is charged with political and social statements about living on the edge in a region burdened with conflict and war. The tranquility in the painting seems temporary, an illusion of peace with a prevailing threat forever lurking on the horizon. In the stillness though there is hope, a love of the moment and a will to find beauty and humanity regardless of the struggle or impending chaos. The work is a beautiful and true reflection of the artist and her thoughts, the environments reflecting her passions, fears, hopes and dreams.  

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