MATTHEW BEST
INTERSECTIONS | WEST GALLERY
FEBRUARY 14 - MARCH 16, 2019
My goal is to create paintings that depict mental shifts, growth, vulnerability, and change. These paintings are acts of self examination. I begin with an action (a line, a color, a field, a mark). I make a second action which sometimes destroys the first action. Sometimes it furthers the work. The third action is a reaction to what is left of the previous two actions. All subsequent actions change, alter, bolster, or destroy everything that came before. If I like anything too much I get rid of it. If I kind of like something but don’t like it quite enough, I get rid of it. Obviously if I am completely dissatisfied, I get rid of it. I am looking for the stories I tell myself, at what I find too comfortable, what I return to again and again (what I already know I can do) and I try to eliminate them. It is an imperfect process that causes me anxiety but allows for the creation of paintings that surprise me. This process forces me to dwell in uncertainty. These paintings are my attempt to navigate this uncertainty.
CYNTHIA COOPER
INTERSECTIONS | WEST GALLERY
FEBRUARY 14 - MARCH 16, 2019
What starts as one thing always turns into something else for me. Initially I imagined my work portraying the (slightly intrusive and annoying) idea to viewers that "life is short and you are in the process of dying". This is a message I hear inside my own head daily as I fret over wasting time and I wanted everyone else to worry about it as much as I do! When a curator described my “painting of thousands of small tic marks as an expression of time and discipline required in artistic practice...”, I realized that I am also recording the minutiae of my own life. I approached this series of stripe paintings by using color and pattern to ascribe mean- ing. Then I devised a system of using prime numbers on them. I was interested to see the effect that imposing this (highly personalized) mathematical system would have on movement and pattern. To explain the process: I apply paint in multiple layers by counting my application of brush strokes in sequences of prime numbers. The paintings have luminescent surfaces that are both meditative and energetic. Be- cause they are also autobiographical they evoke what it is that inspired me. This could be wanting to prove that there is more to me than meets the eye, such as in "Rich inner life". Another example is the glee I felt during winter that translated into " winter har- monics". Currently I am making what I call white paintings although they are not just white. They manifest my perception of light that I distill and mix with meaning.
WILL HOLUB
INTERSECTIONS | WEST GALLERY
FEBRUARY 14 - MARCH 16, 2019
Instead of using paper as a mere support for mark-making, Will Holub makes paper itself the primary marking device in his textural abstract paintings. Precisely arraying hand-torn, individually painted paper fragments on painted stretched canvas or linen, he then seals this low-relief, 3-D material under transparent acrylic-polymer skins. Enhancing, preserving and protecting such an inherently fragile, plant-based material inspires metaphorical associations with the very human struggle to accept life’s only true certainty.
BARBARA JOAN SOLOMON
INTERSECTIONS | WEST GALLERY
FEBRUARY 14 - MARCH 16, 2019
The art of coiling a basket involves hours of slow meditative labor. Yet, it is a labor of love which can be compared to birthing a child. The core element, which is the cord that flows through the whole basket, connects the basket maker to the vessel. Through this core element, which is physically like an umbilical cord, the basket flows and takes shape. The creator continually communicates with the basket, breathing life into new form. In my work I strive to have the linen fiber medium embody a message of artistic merit, thus creating a spiritual life inherent in the basket. As the basket develops, the artist transmits a part of her inner self to her work. The exploration of this communication between artist and maturing sculpture is a study of the unconscious that allows me to delve into myself as both craftsperson and artist. My baskets are a product of who I am. They are containers for my soul. The sculptures become a recorded history of my inner life. As containers they hold my secrets and my vulnerabilities, which I am often not able or willing to reveal to my conscious self or to others. I see myself as an artist and sculptor communicating both a personal and universal message. It is not important that the viewer know or understand the message. What is important is that others can relate to my work in their own way. Ultimately, it is vital that the viewer be able to have a quiet intimate dialogue with the artwork. Coiling works for me on many levels. As creator and mother nurturer of my pieces, I constantly remain connected to my work through the umbilical cord which acts as the core element in the work. Symbolically, the umbilical cord feeds and nurtures the work through its birthing process, as well as nurturing the maker.
Cloud Painting 1, 2017. Acrylic, japan colors, fiberglass screen on canvas on wood, 24in. x 24in.
GERALD WOLFE
INTERSECTIONS | WEST GALLERY
FEBRUARY 14 - MARCH 16, 2019
In my work, the use of untraditional materials has always been a key element. Recently, I would begin each painting by applying cotton drop cloths to panels of wood. The porous quality and imperfections of a drop cloth is what draws me to this material. As each piece begins to evolve, cutting, patching, scraping and painting takes place. In many cases, much of the drop cloth becomes obscured but the rough quality of the material is always maintained. Over the years I have worked with spackle, concrete, house paint, and, most recently, fiberglass window screen. The type of screen that one would find in hardware stores. I approach my paintings in an intuitive way. This instills an energy in each piece, while making objects that have a three-dimensional, architectural feel. The final statement of each piece is realized when the interplay of lines and shapes create a tension between flatness and depth. I also work intuitively when doing my wall sculptures. In the sculpture, I have been working with cardboard tubes, wood, plaster, wood filler, and latex primer. The wood that I have been using is the lath that was taken from old plaster walls. When making these wall sculptures, I try to retain the character of the old wood throughout the process. In these sculptures, I simplify each piece so depth and space is created from the interplay of shadows and light. The visual elements of Islamic Art, museum artifacts, and the quilts of Gee’s Bend have been an ongoing influence in my work. To a varying degree, the imagery of my work combines the patchwork aspects of quilt making and the fragmentary nature of Greek and Roman museum displays with the fluid, interwoven nature of Islamic script.
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