Through a Gauze Darkly

When we put it up on our Is-It-Finished? stand, many in the class gasped.

This is a large painting, 48” x 36”.  The primary colors, red, yellow and blue, are allowed to drip and splash, creating a sense of depth, particularly in the red.  In the right half of the painting, there are  patches of gauze. Paint was dragged over them, adding to the illusion of depth. The white edges of the gauze, only intermittently seen, are delicate and mysterious.

On the right, the yellow sweeps upward and threatens to dominate the whole painting, but it is  subdued by the fine lines of the threads which rise and then fall loosely over the yellow.

This painting is an example why modern art has to be experienced in the original.

Interestingly, the left-right flip doesn’t work.  Does it?

Painting by Jan Fleckman, 48”x36”, acrylic on canvas.

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Order Interrupted

Primary colors are pleasing. Look: red, blue and yellow. Plus two secondaries, orange and green. Plus black and white. This is a pleasing painting. The colors are luminous and the composition is stable and orderly. What more could you want!?
Well, you might want some chaos to liven things up a bit, because our experience of life is, dare I say it, a bit chaotic. Our rationality only covers so much territory in our inner lives. If you think chaos belongs to a truthful look at life, painting may be your medium. Paint welcomes chaos. Dip the brush into some paint on your palette and whoosh. Chaos comin’ right up, sir.

This is exiting to look at, way beyond just pleasant. Notice how things overlap and fade. Notice how your eye is constantly moving through this thing.  You cannot rest any where, even though you can see that the underlying structure is rectilinear and stable.

The painting appears to have multiple layers, but actually it only has four. The top layer consists of two rectangles, neatly outlined: one black and one smaller one in yellow. These two rectangles cover very little surface, but isn’t it uncanny how they contribute to the illusion of depth in the painting?
Painting by Bruce Boyer, oil on canvas, 30” x 40”
All contents copyright (C) 2010 Katherine Hilden. All rights reserved.
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