BigTown Gallery is pleased to present new paintings and collages by Nancy H. Taplin. Her solo exhibition at BigTown in 2007, marked a beginning of what we see culminating here with this selection of her most recent abstract paintings.
In this fully fledged realization of her move away from the representational reference, to an evolutionary language defined and clarified by the artist's intimate daily routine, we see imbued a celebration of her more than forty years at the easel. These paintings, both large 12' and small, exude a lively and lifelike breadth of emotion; simultaneously at ease and “on stage.”
The brushwork in these new paintings–quick-released or controlled for density–moves with seeming effortlessness toward lucidity–swiping, shaping, erasing–enveloping the gestural activity within a field of tinted white paint–pushing, stretching the movement of color–building to voluminous expressions of form; liberated by an arresting complexity of sensuous color, both moody and bright. Of this new work the artist states: “As in the past, my paintings are gestural in nature, using movement of line, shape, and color to create energy... In my new works I am exploring the communication between these various elements, as though it were one big operatic argument or conversation.”
These are paintings of emotional declaration; reinterpretations of discoveries over time. Throughout, the sonorous rhythms pull the viewer in, push the viewer out beyond the painting's boundaries, and into a suite of symphonic variation; a record of sorts of the gesture given and taken away. This, combined with the now predominantly all-over working of high stamina calligraphic brushwork, forms the new Taplin signature.
This exhibition of oils on canvas and paper will be on view in the main and center galleries through April 29, 2012.
