“Mutability reigns, for Row’s is an art of open possibilities, not one of which precludes any other. Consequently, the vertical and horizontal lines in this painting are able to do two things at once: anchor the image firmly to the surface of the canvas and, as their colors shift and they interact with other forms, add to the ambiguities that make this painting so absorbing.”
—Carter Ratcliff, “David Row: An Art of Mutability,” 2021
Locks Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new paintings by David Row. This is the artist’s third solo show with the gallery. A catalog with an essay by Carter Ratcliff accompanies the exhibition.
Row’s paintings work on our perceptions, as Ratcliff notes, by “playing distinct form against elusive form, clarity against ambiguity.” Row’s rich colors and layered surfaces—with rough brush strokes, streaks, and subtle texture—contain infinite spaces within his dynamic and irregularly shaped canvases. Row has mastered the art of constructing angular planes of joined panels and their seamless junctures become folded into the space of the paintings. Continuing his earlier explorations of abstract symbols—of infinity and juncture, ellipses and Xs—Row’s newest paintings on wood panels use more daring colors and appear to float on the wall behind them. Fluorescent underpaint can be seen through lines and scratches in the surfaces and the edges appear illuminated. Bold and off-kilter geometries dominate, with syncopations of acid greens and yellows, toxic oranges, deep blues, and unsettling purples, all of which call out for closer looking.
David Row (b. 1949, Portland, ME) is a painter and master printmaker living and working in New York and Maine. In dialogue with the trajectory of abstract painting in New York, including artists such as Frank Stella and Robert Mangold, Row breaks down the elemental language of abstraction and plays with tropes of painterly syntax, combining ideas from the Modern tradition with the Post-Modern influence of semiotics.
A major exhibition of Row’s paintings will be on view at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA) from May 29th through September 12, 2021.
David Row will be on view from April 2 - May 14, 2021. For the month of April, Locks Gallery is open by appointment only. Please email info@locksgallery.com to schedule an appointment.
