SoHo

 GalleryViews / Soho

 David Stern at Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine
 Art, 115 Wooster Street to June 3rd
 To view a film clip of the exhibition click here.

The first thing to notice about these paintings is their sheer physicality.  As soon as you walk into the gallery the pungent, slightly sour odor of linseed oil lets you know that a lot of paint has been slung around.  The canvases immediately bear this out and indeed come close to serving as wall sculpture for the density of paint they contain. This tactile dimension is as important to the work as the visual elements and produces the effect of chaos contained; albeit barely. But it�s interesting how the materiality of the paint transforms these pieces into objects while also defining and obscuring the figurative elements.

David Stern, Braces & Shadows, 2004, oil on canvas, 44 x 52 in

David Stern, Braces & Shadows, 44 x 52 in (detail)

David Stern, Braces & Shadows, 44 x 52 in (side view detail)

To inquire of this work whether it is figurative or abstract goes right to the core of David Stern�s content. The answer, as evidenced in these paintings, resolves itself as a teasing equivocation. On the figurative side there is not a single piece that does not contain a direct reference to human figures.  Additionally there is a subtle quality of light and shadow along with a measure of spatial depth at play in this work. Often, as in Braces and Shadows (44 x 52 inch sized canvas); the figures are posed askance and as viewed from below. This, plus the aggressive paint handling and the indistinguishable human figures, provides a psycho logical dimension to this work. The comprehensive effect is that these paintings assume a sense of forgotten images suggesting a sense of loss and sadness. Think of water damaged snapshots discovered in a long abandoned building.

From the abstract side of the fence the psychological dimension is both heightened and compromised. The thickly robust paint obscures the figures and so compromises a specific emotional narrative. It is easy enough to get lost

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