● sold, in private collections  in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and the United States     

“Notan” is the term used by the Japanese to express “light-dark” as an element of design. In the west we use separate terms such as positive space and negative space or figure and ground, dividing the idea of light-dark into separate components. In paintings it is easy to see that dark shapes cannot exist without a surrounding area of white. White shapes cannot exist without dark to define it. The two elements are really one. This is an eastern concept of yin-yang that each is what the other is not. These paintings only use black and the grays leading to white with much less abstraction than the other conceptual approaches I am pursuing. This is real as I am willing to go. I leave that to the photographers. The paintings are designed to change character as you view them from different distances. I still want both the almost real from a distance and then the gradual change to the realization that it is also total hard edged abstraction at closer distances. Light and the absence of light are major components in the success of these abstract paintings of ordinary reality. In my mental exploration of light and the absence of light made by natural and man made structures, it seemed logical to explore maximum contrasts with no color to influence the viewer's eye. Instead, I am using value contrast as my primary visual composition tool.

This is an ongoing series.

back to INDEX of Paintings by Series Ι HARD EDGE ABSTRACT EXPRESSION