All things have a beginning.
The ensuing path builds upon that point, layer by layer, until it reaches a natural end (predetermined or otherwise). The layers built between the beginning and the end document creation, like geological strata that tell a story over time. STRATA addresses a fundamental facet of painting: layers. The first mark, or gesture, and the last mark have no hierarchy between them. Existing with equal weight and significance they bookend the creation of each work. The history of each painting traces through layers of application, at times traversing mediums, until it its journey comes to an end with a final decision. Each artist’s practice represents a different journey, each destination unique.
Ana Villagomez often begins this journey with the canvas on the floor. She starts moving paint on the surface to build a ground, applying paint and washing it away with an array of tools. Layering begins when the canvas is on the wall. Meticulously applied overlays of monochrome shapes and cutouts alternately obfuscate and reveal her initial mark making. Her grounds ultimately illuminate the final piece, animating her layered interventions.
Lucienne O’Mara’s paintings take a journey initiated by spontaneity. Her performative and expressionistic style of applying marks one over the other, is done wet on wet, until color, movement, and form balance and resolve. While difficult to trace the first mark, it peers through the swirling mixtures of colors held in each brushstroke. We are left to wonder what supports each gesture, as the strata of her paintings compress into bold geometric structure.
While Gregory Hodge paints seemingly-simple—yet beautifully rendered—cropped domestic scenes and serene landscapes, the actual surface of the work, when viewed up close, gives the viewer a peak into his process. Hodge begins by laying an impressionistic base image, applied with acrylic on linen. He expands on this painterly language by applying color over the base and scraping it away methodically using a toothed tool to create a rippled, textile-like effect. From afar the image is clear; up close it feels pixelated and extremely abstract. Each vibrating line comes together on the surface to reveal the image.
Connie Harrison, using pastels, oil paint, and wax builds her luminous and abstract landscape paintings over time, mark over mark. The depth of her work, however, comes through removal. Harrison scratches into the built-up surface to peel back and reveal prior marks. Her gestures bolt to the surface to dictate their own place in the composition, while still existing in a balanced and thoughtfully executed way. Time is revealed and blades of grass become so lush they seemingly move across the layers as naturally as nature does itself.
Alexandria Tarver layers thin glazes of oil, building the rich hues of her panels, while simultaneously creating images by wiping away to reveal the surface underneath. This process renders an evocative, emotional charge that emanates from her panels, each glowing as if illuminated by the electric light of dusk. Winding between abstract and figural mark making, her floral compositions are taken from life, derived from meditative sketches that draw from literal journeys through her city and the world at large, and translated into frenetic, sinuous paintings. She reveals and elevates the painterly and emotional material that would otherwise be concealed within.
When bringing together five painters from different geographical places—all of whom are at the early stages of their careers—there is a joy that one feels when a sense of community, comradery, and commonality organically blossoms. Endings are not always clear, but these five exhibited artists paint decisively, recording each journey with care.