Baroque

Comment

Comment by David Moss on February 6, 2023 at 4:44pm

Kristen,

Thanks so much for revisiting my work and this painting in particular. I really enjoyed your thoughtful insight in describing  the experience of exploring Baroque anew. Your comments opened up this painting to me again in unexpected ways. Very gratifying. The more recent work is, as you would expect, very different but your mention of references to water is still on ongoing interest. I'll post some new work soon.

Best,

David

Comment by Resident Curator on February 5, 2023 at 1:37pm

Curator’s Comments:

(disclaimer: David Moss & I worked together a decade or so ago.)

Coming across your painting today was like running into an old friend, and seeing him differently after time apart.  Baroque is a gorgeously luminous painting, rich in abstract configuration and depth of color palette. The yellow ochre and cadmium hues are a stunning contrast to the craggy black lines in the piece.  As with some of your other non-objective works, there appears to be a well build tectonic structure in the underpainting, providing a stabilizing foundation to the more erratic gestures. The angles of the linear edifices suggest cubic units gone astray, toppling over as they rise higher in the picture plane.  Vaguely geometric formations are featured in several of your other paintings, and for me serve as anchoring bits of space in a swimming current.  Revisiting the titles of your paintings on the site, I notice there are water references in many.  Pond appears to forgo most of the angled shapes in favor of a motif with repeated elliptical shapes.  These ellipses float in and out of a horizonal flow, and play with expectations of microcosmic elements.  Your paintings have a distinctive chromatic glow and contrast that suggest much lies beneath. I miss seeing your work, and do hope you share current paintings when you visit the site.