GalleryViews / Midtown

groups of hues: red, yellow and a very golden green, the painting stays within a rather narrow range of color.  This, plus the nearly even horizontal division between the upper and lower portions of the piece, makes the reductive case.  But Jensen counters such a case by characteristically splashing �clouds� of color all over.  The result is that the paint handling itself creates spontaneous, intuitive forms. The subject matter suggests a landscape but the content is all about the relationship between the simple reductive division of the canvas and the forms created by the paint.

Bill Jensen - Installation View

The show is almost entirely made up of modest sized canvases hanging in a rather cavernous space. A smaller adjacent room contains just a few pieces. This space and the paintings it contains conspire to create a unique experience, something suggesting a small temple for abstract painting.  One problem with the installation is that the lighting harshly spotlights the individual work.  In Jensen�s last exhibit at Mary Boone�s gallery in Chelsea, the lighting was far more diffused (greatly enhanced by natural light from a huge skylight). Even though the Chelsea space is larger (or at

Previous Page

Bill Jensen, Nüwa and Fuxi I, 2002-2003,
oil on linen, 32 x 25 in

least feels that way no doubt due to the high ceiling) the paintings, not to mention the viewers, enjoyed a much better presentation.

Bill Jensen - Installation View

GalleryViews Directory