Grounded and Figured at Link Gallery
Artist Chris Taylor, USA, “Grounded and Figured” at Kent State Trumbull Link Gallery, Kent Ohio. These vibrant, bold, and dynamic small works of acrylic on wood panel collection opens January 22 and runs through February 19, 2020.
[kopa_blockquote border=”left”]Rounded, clean edges and flat organic shapes merge in Chris Taylor’s new paintings. An enigmatic depth is created through shape and color/value; the use of diagonals casts a playful nod at a linear perspective. Within windows and slices of space, the paintings hint at objects or symbols (eggs, fences, boxes, batons, pendulums, leaves, arches), as interwoven strips of color heighten the spatial ambiguity. The temperature of color redefines shapes. Within one shape defined area, there are such subtle shifts in value and temperature that the distinction is almost imperceptible, particularly when positioned near high contrast areas. Decidedly, white is used as a color. By breaking boundaries of conventional illusion, pattern, (and repetition with and without pattern) the artist uses the edges of the picture plane that both crops and encapsulates form. There are many ironies in these paintings, including space that is both flat and voluminous at the same time. Carol Heft, USA[/kopa_blockquote]
“The various elements in my paintings are in constant competition for the foreground. What appears to be a hole in a plane can also be perceived as an object in front of the plane. Surfaces that serve as grounds in one area of a painting are formed into figures in another area. These dynamics create a lively, vibrant tension in my paintings, not only optically, but also materially and conceptually. ” Chris Taylor.
Chris lives in New Albany, OH, and is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Art at The Ohio State University, Newark Campus. His paintings have been exhibited throughout the USA and internationally.
Carol Heft is a New York City-based artist and educator. She is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design; her work has been exhibited internationally. She teaches Drawing, Painting and Art History at several colleges in New York and Pennsylvania, and is represented by The Blue Mountain Gallery in New York City.
