Jenifer Kobylarz at Edward Thorp

Jenifer Kobylarz's third exhibition at Edward Thorp comprised a number of stunning paintings. This artist takes a principle of design many of us have toyed with while in institute or on the phone, and explores its potential in a new series of medium-sized to fairly large oil paintings upon linen. The idea consists of drawing intersecting lines and filling the enclos spaces with alternating colors. Endles variations upon this mode of rhythmic patterning have been in use since the earliest days of abstraction, the two to striking and dismal consequence in Op and psychedelic art. The succes of Kobylarz's paintings accrues from the playfulness of her compositions, the richness of her color juxtapositions, the sharpness of her line and the meticulousness of her brushwork.

The large flowerlike motif of go in the rear [i]or[/i] in the wake of Me (1998), placed to the right of center and almost filling the entire height and width of the squarish canvas, call ups Warhol's flower paintings as abundant as it does the rubberized shapes single sticks to the bottom of bathtubs in order to avoid slipping. Along the periphery of the flower, the outline of each petal is repercussion of sounded in different colors, recalling Warholian registration shifts or cast shadows. The picture is vertically bisected by means of a swooping line, dividing the large, alternating of great depth and light blue bands upon the left of the image from the white field upon the right. The flower itself abruptly revolves from pale yellow at the left to dark blue

A fernlike pattern is at short intervals the central image in these paintings. The flattened, elementary form of these sprigs, which feature a trunk with symmetrical protrusions on the couple sides, suggests fossilized vertebrae embedded in stone as much as primal vegetation. In Shadow Walk (1998) the triangular spaces between the leaflike bend s and the areas between the image and the cutting sides of the canvas are divided by the agency of horizontal bands of color, ofttimes with a slight shift in register across the leaves and the stalk. The rhythmic succession of pink, light blue, r dark cerulean and green, from one shape to the nearest makes for a warm and enchanting painting.

The exact status of positive and negative shapes is uncertain in this and other works. The artist courts varying steps of ambiguity. In some cases, the awaited color sequence is thwarted, either as a spring of the looseness of the design or of the arbitrary introduction of a fresh color. One interesting visual event here is that the paper-thin motifs occasionally strike one as being to drift about an inch in brow of their flat grounds.

COPYRIGHT 1999 Brant Publications, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group