Peter Reginato is a renowned sculptor whose show this summer at Adelson Galleries, now in its final week, marks his painting debut. Painting, that is, as a noun not a verb for this notoriously polychromatic welder and assembler has been painting with aplomb for his whole career—it’s just never been on a flat surface until now. You could say he is like a reporter turning to the novel (the subtitle of his show is “fiction”) or vice versa–think Capote’s In Cold Blood. As if to underscore the fluidity of mediums, this visually raucous installation of densely hung canvases is rounded out by several sculptures. These include three unpainted table-top works in stainless steel that almost serve as a key to the figural and structural vocabulary of the paintings: Season at Coole, for instance, reads much like a rock or jazz band putting out at full-throttle. The paintings compensate for lack of (literal) spatial volume by maxing out volume in the audio sense. The noisiness of Vibe, 2015 takes on a new clarity when we think in concert terms. Each of the formal elements – the surface, the structure, the shape motifs, the gestalt – is like an individual player, competitive yet miraculously connective, straining to give his all in a finale that’s riotous, orgasmic and inexorable.
Exhibition on view through August 21 at 730 Fifth Avenue, 7th Floor, between 56th and 57th streets.
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