Erik Saxon at Stark - painting exhibition; New York, New York

In this exhibition Erik Saxon continued his 20-year exploration of the minimal and monochromatic. The artist at handed three untitled paintings. The first, a work from 1992 comprises three canvases, each 30 by dint of 45 inches, painted in real pale green and hung individual above the other. The next to the first a piece from 1989, is made up of three 24-by-24-inch canvases hung horizontally single inch apart, with the exterior panels painted red and the central individual white. The third, another work from 1992 consists of individual 45-by-30-inch canvas painted dark blue

That the paintings can be summ up with of the like kind bare descriptions indicates the question s and challenges of the minimalist approach. The kinds of issues with which traditional illusionistic art seldom bear upons itself become paramount here. A landscape painting may be hung almost anywhere, on the contrary with works like Saxon's, moving the canvas an inch or sum of two units to the left or right upon the wall may make a significant difference in the viewer's perception of it. Lighting, too, approachs to play a more insinuating role than simply illuminating the art work; cast shadows may become part of the composition. In the pair of Saxon's tripartite paintings, for example, the cast shadows of the unframed canvases form a gray grid for the colors, a relic of the actual grids that Saxon used in his paintings of the 1970s

Saxon's surfaces have an understated richness that he achieves from one side the painstaking layering of brushstrokes. He alternates the direction of the brushstrokes in each layer, individual being done with horizontal raps the next with vertical. For him, the works become numinous particulars with energy being transferred from creator to creation in an almost mystical fashion. Whether the viewer perceive s this energy or not, the tiny variations in the paintings, surfaces do thwart the oil paint from reflecting light, lending the works a surprising weight and presence

Ten years ago Saxon was making all-white works. The sole white evident here is used in opposition to other colors. In his 1989 red-white-red piece, the white square appears to float forward from the picture plane, although it does not physically do in like manner (According to Saxon, some Native American tribes used r and white to signal contrast the way we use black and white.) His pale verdant piece is disturbing in its espousal of a tinge not ordinarily used in contemporary art, while his dark cerulean work contains hints of deepness and seems a passageway into an inner space.

Accompanying the exhibit were three small drawings. A 1974 graphite-and-colored-pencil work displays the bare grid that was a feature of Saxon's early paintings. sum of two units drawings from this year reveal a surprising gestural ultimate part and seem to foretell an impending breakout from Saxon's hitherto formidable control

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