.
Bram Bogart at Jacobson Howard Gallery in October. Here, Rode Rouge, 2008, mixed media, 66.25 x 55.25 inches
I've been viewing a new crop of exhibitions this month, but I want to close out October's offerings with a look at two shows: in this post, the material paintings of Bram Bogart in New York; in the next, the ethereal paintings of Rose Olson in Boston.
.
.
I had not heard of Bram Bogart until I walked into Jacobson Howard, a white-walled, white-floored gallery on the Upper East Side. Wow! These are the monster trucks of painting. And I mean that in a good way.
.
.
Color is not just on the surface, it is the surface. Indeed, the color, the surface and the painting are one. And it's as much sculpture as painting (some of the works are a good 12 inches deep) Bogart is coy about his medium, but it would seem to be pigment mixed directly into something like plaster, marble dust, and probably resin to hold the mix together. The stuff is troweled on. Looking at each work, you really get the physicality of the process, the plop, pile and smear of it. Viewing the work is a visceral experience; you almost feel every one of the hundreds of pounds that these paintings weigh. To be honest, I find the colors a bit too uh, how-you-say, unsubtle, but then finesse is not what these paintings are about.
.
Here, take a look at the muscle and heft:
An approximately 8x10"detail of Rode Rouge, the work at the top of this post
Hans Hoffman on steroids? Sorry, my notes don't tell me the title, but you can see the palette and scale of the work
.
Up-close viewing yields some interesting passages. The chromatic topography below is a tiny section from the right edge
Up-close viewing yields some interesting passages. The chromatic topography below is a tiny section from the right edge
Bogart also showed a number of all-white paintings, which in their monochrome strike me as even more sculptural than the chromatic works. You can see one, Het Wit, on the gallery website.
.
Just in case you aren't familiar with Bram Bogart, he's a Netherlands-born octogenerian who lives and works in Belgium. As if you can't tell, he's been at it for years. .
