The Clifford-Smith Gallery, is pleased to announce its November 2001 exhibition of paintings by Boston artist, Penn Young. Young's bold, reductive oils fall into several series, each exploring the relationship between color, ground, texture, tone, surface and depth.
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one color painting on wet ground #6, 2001 oil on canvas, 36" x 32" |
The exhibition is comprised of three series of paintings: 1) One color paintings on wet ground, 2) One color paintings (on dry ground), and 3) Paintings of Paintings. In his most recent series of "Paintings of Paintings", the artist has add a layer of context through the adaptation of art historical paintings that form the ground of his largely monochrome works Ð thereby conflating several forms of historical importance.... color field, expressionist, and allegorical works ranging throughout history.
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one color painting on color ground #20, 2001 oil on board, 8" x 6" |
Formally, this work is situated in the largely abandoned sector of expressionist painting which, oddly enough, is the very thing that renders these paintings relevant. Young's unabashed embrace of beauty within the reductive arena is a bold statement in the face of a near univeral stampede to employ images of appropriated digital-pop where importance is measured in the degree of ironic reference. Confronted with a nearly solid black canvas, for example, the viewer is stunned (or even relieved) to be offered the opportunity to revel in the subtleties of reflection vs. matte, or tiny hints of color leaking through to the surface. The sheer subtlety of the work appears as a renewed challenge for eyes attuned to a variety of super-stimulated visual information.
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williamsburg III #10, 1999 oil on canvas, 28" x 26"
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The work will be on display through November 24th. The gallery will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, but will be open Friday and Saturday after the holiday.
for more information please contact the gallery
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