Gaia No. 10, 2014. Print by Aviva Reed[/caption]
Also new this week are some wonderful new prints by Greg MacLaughlin. Greg's signature trapezoid has been infused with collage elements and placed in new spatial environments, adding an exciting new dimension to his investigation of shape, form and endless possibility.
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Ergo, We Hurt, 2014. Print by Greg MacLaughlin[/caption]
"The Garage Door Video Series, Between Now and Then, is a look at landscapes in the process of change. Whether material or ethereal, these videos explore cycles of decay and rebirth. Artists in this series locate changes within broad thematic spectrums that range from the natural environment to human history. While some address visions of progress, others comment on acts of deliberate destruction. Most of the videos apply a specific technique of cut-out collage animation, which super-imposes moving images upon two-dimensional planes. This technique helps achieve unexpected optical delights, which, at times resemble moving paintings. Through the visual juxtaposition of stillness and movement, the marks of transformation over time become apparent." Exhibition curated by: Shireen Abrishamian and Banyi Huang
"Savage Sentimentality presents a group show of artists of unique backgrounds and interests connected by a tenuous relationship to sentiment. The artists included allude to and/or embrace sentiment while simultaneously ravaging it, either with a brutish material response or vice versa - a subject matter that contradicts the sensitivity of material handling." Guest curated by Steven Hampton.
"Like the artists of yesteryear, Margarita Dittborn Valle's (Born: 1981 ) pure ambition is to create a sublime visual experience.... We love the subtle nostalgic and fanciful themes ever-present in the work of this photographer and winner of a transcendent self-taught artist in the national and international space."
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Santa Lucía, 2006. Print by Margarita Dittborn Valle[/caption]
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.
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Seascape - Thierry de Cordier[/caption]
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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.
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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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