Art Review

Kristin T. Woodward, Resident Curator, ArtDeadline.com
Art Review April 14, 2012

Mums Brush, 2012

II, Abstract Series, 2011

Curator’s Comment:  

I'm partial to the hazy softness of these images.  The muted blues and browns create a shadowy spatial relationship, but sections also appear densely layered at longer inspection.  The floral forms are skillfully understated, emphasizing their natural frailty, and fleeting opening.  I also like that the arrangement of the pale blue open blooms travel in a sinuous path, as orange faded or bruised versions of the petals are dispersed in the surrounding space.  I enjoy seeing the vacillation between representation and abstraction of similar forms in your larger body of painting, as evidenced by Mum’s Brush.  While more traditionally orientated as a still life and floral arrangement, the large bouquet (or chrysanthemum?) in the foreground is offset by the modulated color echoed in the painterly ground.  It’s worth noting the blackish space in the backdrop is startlingly successful against the more delicate and warmly tinted orange hues.  It’s a bold and sophisticated choice of value that most painters of natural forms and light shy away from.  In this piece the result is arresting, and quite contemporary.