Neysa Grassi: Rose Gatherer, 2001-2011, 2011
Text by Susan Stewart
50 pages, Softcover
Published by Locks Art Publications
ISBN: 978-1-879173-79-8
The idiosyncratic technique of Grassi creates a tormented, multi-layered surface that "owes much to destructive forces - abrading, scraping, running out - to the extent that what has been removed from the linen support, what was once there but can no longer be seen, significantly contributes to the power of the work." (Jonathan Binstock) The artist's new paintings unveil an inner radiance in old rose and grey hues or in shades of blue, from cobalt to steel color. Here, the meditative abstractions mistily evoke water, rosebushes, stones, or clouds, but Grassi's paintings "neither exclude resemblance nor rely on it. Its point is to aid us in approaching the singularity of the pictorial sensation, not lead away from it." (Barry Schwabsky) As poet and critic Susan Stewart writes of her work in the catalog essay, “What do you see when you look at a painting by Neysa Grassi? Colors for which you have no name, certainly. You may as well have the sensation of looking deep into an alchemist’s pot, or of floating far above the work as you look down on the patchwork of a landscape.”
