arrived at the same time and I was miraculously able to explain and apologize my way out of the whole mess (though it did cost me about $250.00 and two new neckties). Then I took my Ego by the ear and with a sharp yank accompanied by yelping and tears in those big cow eyes it has (for all the destructive qualities it can be also be sweet and endearing) and got us both out of there in a New York minute.

So my apologies to Jeffrey, Mathew and all the rest that were exposed to the antics of my Ego.  It really means no harm but is near totally composed of irresistible impulse. I’ve got it confined again but I know that one day, sooner or later, it’s going to make yet another jump for it.  In addition to saying I’m sorry I just want to warn everyone that this could happen again so be on the look out.

This exhibition is tightly focused on a short span of years (1945 to 1950) while also celebrating Leon Polk Smith’s centenary year.  This early period in the artist’s career that reflects his initial de Stijl influences.  Yet the work is nevertheless definitively Polk Smith’s own, i.e., self aware of influences yet confident and fresh for its artistic curiosity. These paintings, now well over 50 years old, have retained the look and feel of what might generically be described as ‘contemporary’.  This does not reflect a comparison to work being created today but rather ties it to a concept of Modern Art.  Perhaps due to its abstract subject matter and the absence of direct narrative, a lot of art from the same period seems able to retain this sort of reading.

Given the constricted time line these paintings are taken from, I find it extremely interesting that such a wide range of exploration was undertaken. Start with how often the dimensions of individual pieces play a subtle, supporting role for the enclosed forms.  Whether horizontal or vertical, the outside proportions enhance the shapes

Leon Polk Smith, Joan T. Washburn Gallery

within a given painting.  Now look at the black lines surrounding those shapes. Rather then simply dividing the forms with a Mondrian like stricture, Polk Smith throws the tidiness off-kilter by varying the thickness of the black lines. This sometimes suggests an almost playful light & shadow effect that simultaneously challenges the supreme order traditionally presented by those same lines. The result is that squares and rectangles are not well behaved rectilinear structures.  In one painting, the forms are reduced to a series of thin linear rectangles caught up in a subtle grid. On the more formal side it is interesting how this affects space.  The varied thickness of the surrounding lines conscripts them into functioning as forms at times and in such a capacity they slide  effortlessly from one designation to the other.  Again this trips up expectations for how these paintings are expected to perform.