Don Christensen / Tumble / 77" x 55" / 2007/ www.donchristensen.com

The composition, color, and drawing that is integral to my paintings are ususally a representation of something I’ve seen before in our world or in my dreams. It can be quite simple, the color of a pedestian’s coat moving by the large gaudy commercial graphics on the side of a truck as it turns into the late afternoon light. It could be the color scheme of a Matisse painting or the pakaging of some candybar. Nothing is sacred and nothing is too prosaic. Whether using found materials or painting directly onto canvas I am firmly in the tradition of pictoral art. The rectangle on the wall is an old traditional, formal device and it still works. It is television, movies, photographs and painting. {Read more…}

www.donchristensen.com

Mary Heilmann / Weave / 1992 / Oil on canvas / 40 1/8 x 30 inches / Spanierman Modern

Don Christensen / Eastbound / 2008 / Oil-based enamel on wood / 31 x 22 inches / Spanierman Modern

Chris Martin / Crystal / 2007 / Oil and spray paint on canvas / 31 x 26 inches / Spanierman Modern

Present Tense: A group exhibition curated by Don Christensen with Mary Heilmann
Spanierman Modern
June 12 – August 2, 2008

The works were selected on the basis of their ability to produce instant and visceral responses in the viewer, without the necessity of contextualization.  The artists included share a preoccupation with eccentric structures and tend toward the use of unexpected materials and techniques.  Working in the abstract formalist tradition, they seek new vocabulary and materials, redefining their boundaries, even to the degree of leaving the confines of the canvas altogether. Diverse in the methods by which they were created, the works in Present Tense reveal the boundless potential now associated with abstraction and demand our immediate engagement with the objects before us.