White & Black Diptych 2014-2015 (White Ptg 11_30_14/Black Ptg 1_6_15)
Jean Wolff
My interest in systems and structure within a grid format is a systematic exploration of a structure and its subsequent construction and deconstruction. The repeated manipulation of the space within the edges of the painting's surface allows that the work is not just an image but becomes a support or object unto itself as well.
Each painting expresses a great deal with limited means, testifying to the power of the formal language within the surface plane. These works are built on an evolving set of inter-relations, rather than just a system of theme and variations. It is a meditation on more than just the formal exercise - not planned, but with each work created in response to a previous work and as a series of a whole. Although abstracted and set out in formal terms/language, these works have a systematic mathematical quality (as referred to in the titles and the date of completion). Beyond the rigors of the geometry, the various media or materials activate the surface, differentiating each painting from another, as well.