Colors Square Route

 
The square format of the paintings in this exhibition are enigmatic in simplicity, the repetition of four equal sides and four equal angles. It presents interesting options, a group of harmonic rectangles, the golden section, and even the curve of the logarithmic spiral derived from the square.

Hans Hofmann wrote, “The first line on the canvas is really the fifth”, meaning that the four sides of the canvas are the first four lines. They are defining elements even before the first stroke is on the surface.

The paintings explore color interaction constrained by geometric shapes that are in turn constrained by the square format.

What Are the Key Characteristic of the paintings that make up Colors Square Route?

• Beside being in a square format they all use bright colors presented in specific shapes that can be considered geometric, linear and hard-edged.

• The works emphasize the flatness of the canvas because that is what these paintings are literally about.

• The excitement comes from the tension between the colors and shapes. It’s the subject of the work.

• The integration of shapes, through overlapping or interpenetrations blurs special distinctions, so that the sense of the image versus the background sometimes becomes ambiguous. The shapes often seem to both advance and recede from surrounding colors.

The works encourage the viewer to experience color as a thing. You can feel the sensation of movement caused by the colors themselves.

Some paintings in the series explore optical effects using color combinations, while others use patterns and/or geometry to create optical illusions. Exploring color relationships using a hard-edge format of striped bands of color creates order while the colors themselves are arranged to make something akin to harmonic transitions. Changes in width and spatial distance between colors creates rhythms that makes up a painting’s visual “sound”, just as Jazz music is composed of patterns in sound. Enjoy them for the colorful “sounds” they create in your own mind.

Michael Griesgraber