It’s always a call for celebration when painter Ron Gorchov’s watercolors are the sole subject of an exhibition. A show of new works on paper, cunningly titled “Curated by Watercolors,” will open Sunday, September 8 at Lesley Heller Workspace. Gorchov’s titles suggest a personal world informed by Greek mythology, lyric poetry, and ’30s big band music. The attention to surface as a unique support is as evident here as it is in his majestic, saddle-shaped canvases. His technique of mounting the paper so it is not flush with the wall allows each watercolor a curling life of its own. Gorchov’s choice of color is at once hot, dark, and mysterious; lemon yellow, forest green, neon green, and deep cobalt blue are the fruits of hard won victories. Many of the watercolors, like the oil paintings, flirt with the pictorial, describing a twins in space motif, a dance between two parts that once were whole. Keep dancing, Ron.
NORA GRIFFIN
Ron Gorchov: Curated by Watercolors at Lesley Heller Worskspace will be on view till October 13, 2013. Lesley Heller is located at 54 Orchard Street in the Lower East Side. The gallery is open Wednesday to Saturday 11 AM to 6PM, and on Sunday from 12 to 6PM. Telephone: 212-410-6120
Ron Gorchov, Raven’s Wing, 2013, watercolor on paper, 14 x 11.5 inches. Courtesy of Cheim & Read.
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