If you have ever stood in front of a Mark Rothko painting -- one of those iconic, massive abstract paintings of hovering rectangles so identified with American art of the mid-20th century -- and wondered what it's all about, then you would be sure to benefit from a trip to James Gallery in the West End.
That's where the exhibition "Surface" explores the rich and complex context of contemporary abstract art with artists whose work embraces the endless possibilities of surface without the cynicism that burdened painters of previous generations.
Using vivid color, intricate compositions and innovative techniques; the artists open up to the possibilities of surface treatment in refreshing ways. The work featured demonstrates the vibrancy and validity found in the renewed energy and its ability to push the boundaries of technique and composition. These compositions touch on questions of restriction and freedom while making connections among sensibilities rather than styles.
Take, for example, the paintings of Maura Robinson. This Manhattan-based abstract artist creates oil-on-canvas paintings that are in many ways similar to those of Rothko. That is to say, they are paintings built up of multiple thin layers of oil paint that seem to shimmer on the surface.
Those similarities are most obvious in her large-scale works, such as "Eggplant Shimmer" and "Big Orange," which visitors will be confronted with when first walking into the gallery. But smaller works by Robinson in the back of the gallery, such as "Powder Drip Gold," slowly reveal a delicate interplay of contrasts between layers of color, as well as gold leaf, enabling the artist to challenge traditional notions of deep pictorial space.
"While I consider myself a purely abstract painter, meaning that I have no desire to find representational anchors in the work I make, I must also admit that my various influences include organic patterns and forms, such as bodies of water, clouds or lichen," Robinson says.
"I feel this has freed me to concentrate on the presence of light and reflectivity in the ocular experience. This, in turn, enables me to deal more singularly with color, form and sensual content."
In similar fashion, Pittsburgh artist Val M. Cox works the surfaces of his paintings with thin layers of paint, building them up in subtle ways that evoke texture or imply meaning way beyond what meets the eye. But he takes the notion of surface even further with shaped canvases that blur the line between what constitutes a painting and what constitutes a sculpture.
In the gallery, more than a dozen large works from his "Form" series seem to burst from the brick walls, each a synthesis of color and form that engages not only the viewer but each painting's respective space and all of the works that surround it.
"I have been concerned with increased fluidity of form, in other words stillness in motion, and use of color and texture to capture a point of balance between the poised and the dynamic," Cox says of his work.
Some pieces, like the vibrant orange work "Form #40.006," do this so well they look as if they are quite literally moving on the wall.
Scratches, scribbles and scrawls in thick oil paint epitomize the unconscious explorations of painter David Miller. A native of Jeannette who lives in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where he is professor of art at Skidmore College, Miller says, "My work is definitely about paint and surface. There is a tactile quality about the physicality of the paint I use in the development of my canvases."
But he says he is more concerned with controlled chaos than anything else. In other words, gestural spontaneity on one hand and methodical construction on the other that together ride the precarious edge between order and chaos.
Although, from a distance, they appear to be very abstract, each of his paintings contains elements that are very real, such as the drawing of a house, a tree or a bird.
"Yes, my paintings are abstract, and are very expressive and intuitive," Miller says. "However, the shapes are fragments of real things that I have either experienced or know about through the media. They may be termed 'psycho-social reflections.' I don't expect viewers to be able to make sense out of the way I compose my paintings; they should look at them with an open mind and be challenged by the various passages the paintings present."
Semi-conscious mark-making may very well be what Miller's paintings are about, but it is also a significant factor in the works of ceramicist Regis Brodie, who also happens to be a professor of art at Skidmore College and lives in Saratoga Springs.
Brodie, who was born and raised in Pittsburgh but has taught at Skidmore ever since he received his M.F.A. from Tyler School of Art in 1969, is very concerned about surface and controlling it in various ways within the context of the three-dimensional forms he creates.
"My work is about the surface energizing the form, making the form better by its presence -- a unity of form and surface, in harmony and spirit," he says.
In the gallery, more than a dozen of his large vessels are placed throughout -- not to mention a dozen or so smaller tea bowls and sake cups -- that altogether reveal the artist's intimate engagement with the surface of his ceramic forms. But outside, in the gallery's sculpture garden, visitors will really have a chance to appreciate the subtleties of texture and various mark-making with which Brodie has been able to enhance the surfaces of his works, especially as they are contrasted against the various plantings and pathways.
All of these artists provide refreshing responses to the age-old fascination with surface, but they do so in unique ways that provide abundant opportunities for comparison, says gallery director Paul Cicozi, who curated the show.
"What I found intriguing about all four of these artists was the complexities of how they handled surface treatment, the similarities between some artists and the varied approaches in regard to materials, mediums used, applications and processes," Cicozi says.
Cicozi, too, deserves mention for a flawless arrangement of objects.
"My hope is to sort of nudge the observer into making those comparisons between distinctly different artists and thinking more about what processes they are incorporating and how those processes and techniques vary, what the end result may be, and also picking up on some of the similarities."
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