"Red Chimpanzee" Painting

“Come a Little Closer” is a small works series in which I focus on exploring color, accidental composition and the manipulation of the opaque and transparent properties of various pigments. I’m fascinated by how opaque color, applied in thin uneven layers can simultaneously obscure and reveal, and the way in which transparent color, thinly layered over existing color, can create subtle shifts in perceptions of the surrounding color. In this series I’ve chosen to use palette knives to apply my colors and employ a technical concept observed in the abstract work of artist like Gerhard Richter and American painter Michael Kessler, whereby color/paint is dragged by various means over a textured surface, allowing the paint to pool in the lower recesses of the surface and conversely scrape away paint from the upper peaks and ridges. It is a process in which the previous textured layers of paint affect or even dictate the behavior of the proceeding layers.The layering process creates subtle to complex gradation and sometimes, when you look a little closer, accidental imagery is revealed through the multiple layers of pattern and color. Original abstract painting on heavy, 100% cotton, lithographers paper. The paper has been gesso primed, back and front for best paint adhesion and archival considerations. Dominant colors are, pale blues,rich reds and ochre. Custom framed in solid wood with satin black finish. Plexi-glass glazing. Pre-assembled hanging hardware included.