Artist Profiles

Milton Resnick has had a life-long love affair with painterly paint. In that time he has mostly focused on abstraction in a way that kind of suggests impressionism sans figuration. This is especially true with the earlier work where entire atmospheres are delineated from thousands of bits of color. Form is almost always beside the point in his

AS.2, 1959, Oil on canvas, 80 x 82 in

work; at least when compared to the emphasis on painterly surface. Look at the pieces from around 1960, which obliquely reference landscapes.  You recognize form, but only as a result of the paint handling. Throughout his work it is impossible to imagine Resnick first rendering his forms and then filling them in with paint.  Rather the opposite seems to be true, which is a key tenet to understanding this work: form is derived through the act of painting.

F.L.W., 1960, Oil on canvas, 43 x 97 in

Above Below, 1998, Oil on canvas, 64 x 80 in

The concept of form following painting holds true even when Resnick �goes figurative� as with the paintings Stranger and Sphinx.  In these pieces the human form seems almost carved out of the paint. Look closely at both paintings and you�ll notice a very subtle, somewhat spectral after image surrounding both figures. Then notice how the background space recedes deeply even as it

Stranger, 1992, Oil on canvas, 50 x 40 in

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