You can get lost in the mind of Jill Nathanson. In her captivating seven-piece series, the air we swim in, overlapping planes of translucent color generate expansive surfaces rich with free-form shapes. These ethereal paintings seem weightless in the way they evoke slow, sliding movement. She paints “the world of things,” in her own words, but her abstraction is assuredly non-objective. Bowtie (2012) has the closest visual connection between an object’s tangibility and Nathanson’s depiction of it. Two triangular orange planes converge at a minute point. She is fond of such compositional devices, allowing a mixture of soft and energetic colors to develop into a heightened moment of alluring tension. Just when we’re immersed in the deep layers of polymer resin, patches of acrylic bring us back to reality.
Jill Nathanson, Bowtie, 2012. Synthetic Polymer and Acrylic on Panel, 18 x 18 inches. Courtesy of the Artist and Messineo Art Projects/Wyman Contemporary
Remains on view through December 20 at 511 West 25th Street, Suite 504, between 10th and 11th avenues, New York City, 212-414-0827
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