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[Epigraph:]
“Blue has no dimensions.
It is beyond dimensions.”
~ Yves Klein, artist
I simply LOVE exhibiting
at The Painting Center in
New York! I think their
Project Room is perfectly
suited to showing abstract
work. It eschews the
distractions of the main
exhibition space,
concentrating the power,
the vibratory affect of
the paintings. This is
especially relevant to my
work — to my
paintings' primary
reliance on color and
texture for their emotive
impact. The off-white
walls allow for a
meditative space, and for
a calm or kinetic
composition to
reverberate, while a
spectator finds their own
viewing distance and quiet
understanding, thus
becoming a participant.
At The Painting Center vernissage (you can tell the artist by his stripes)
This past February saw my second exhibition at The Painting Center,
following the 2017 solo show, at the beginning of my post-Minimal series.
The current show, entitled:
PHILIP GERSTEIN: IN THE INTERVAL
brims with the confidence of a well-developed series. It features strong
assertive colors, and clear organized compositions which nevertheless
preserve the immediacy and surprise of intuitively arrived at results. The
above-referred to intervals are somewhat irregular throughout -- an
evidence of the artist's hand -- which along with varied textures and
surface treatments, tends to keep each work singularly unique and fresh.
That freshness is, hopefully, what will allow a painting to stand the test of
time.
The Painting Center installation (partial view).
I encourage you to peruse the gallery's excellent Press Release, published
in last month's (February) Scene4 feature, here, for insights into the major
themes of this exhibition as a whole and the impact it is likely to effect in
the viewer. I would like to highlight one specific medium-size painting, lest
it gets lost among its larger more actively outgoing neighbors. Please
welcome... perhaps with a drumroll and fanfares!.. the "King of Prussia".
"King of Prussia", 20 x 30 in., (51 x 76 cm),
Acrylic & mixed media on wood panel, 2021
The distinct brushed and raised texture within the blue shape/field, contrasts smartly with the smooth right side of this painting. The two areas
also differ in color, in brightness, in fullness vs quietude. (Looked at from
the right side, the "King" is naked!) All of this variance is perceived
simultaneously and creates a certain added richness for the eye to enjoy.
Perhaps you can see in this example why I refer to such paintings as
post-Minimal.
After this painting was finished, it fairly quickly found its TITLE. To me,
titling the artwork is a separate process, requiring its own procedure and
"rules". It needs to be poetic, without tying down the viewer's imagination
with maudlin specificity. A welcome multiplicity of interpretations is one of
the advantages of Abstraction -- and I try to expand it further with just the
right concept or reference and occasionally a little bit of wordplay.
In this case, the larger blue shape has a very evocative to me right
boundary... that curve reminded me vividly of the prow of a ship. It
brought to mind those proud stately vessels of the times past, perhaps ca.
1910, those ships of state (emerging to us out of the mists of time and sepia
colored postcards of the era) -- exactly the kind that would bear the names
like King of Prussia. Can you see what I mean?.. At the same time, you
might be very astute to note that the blue color used here -- a very
traditional historic blue -- is known as Prussian Blue... . Oh Yes, I decided
in a flash of recognition and insight -- this title would do just fine -- and
then some!..
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