Joanna Pousette-Dart’s show at Moti Hasson is down, but Joanne Mattera Art Blog has recently uploaded some pretty good images. “Pousette-Dart makes paintings that are chromatically gorgeous. The shapes are quirky, almost cartoony�like a Jetson�s version of ‘modern art’�but they’re elegant, with an almost italic flow. Correspondingly, a calligraphic gesture threads its way over the surface of each painting, which is composed of two or three flat, canoe-shaped panels that nest or stack. There’s a strong sense of movement within each painting–glide is the word that comes to mind–so perhaps the visual reference to a water vessel was intentional. I�d call the work lyrical geometry, although lyrical abstraction would probably be closer to the mark.”
Mattera covers Ron Gorchov’s show at Nicholas Robinson Gallery, too. “Whether large or small, Gorchov�s canvases are kind of saddle shaped and the color is by turns odd or beautiful. There are typically two biomorphic shapes in the center of each canvas; sometimes there are four somewhat more geometric elements placed to make an open square or rectangle. These shapes seem to hover just slightly above the surface. And because of the saddle shape of the canvas, which both bows out and dips in, each painting itself seems to hover at the wall. Approach a painting you�re not quite sure how close you can get without hitting your shins against the frame or bumping your nose into the canvas. I love when that happens! Not the bumping but the ambiguity of where the work is in relation to the wall, and where you are in relation to the work.” Read more.
NOTE: Joanne Mattera has a solo show at Arden Gallery in Boston this month. The reception is December 12, and the show runs through December 29. If you’re in the Boston area, check out Joanne’s lushly-colored, encaustic-on-panel paintings, which are even more seductive than the online jpegs.
