30 Sep 2019

Kim Uchiyama: Ascension

John Davis Gallery

Reviewed by Jill Nathanson

Kim Uchiyama's large new works only seem like stripe paintings. They present intense, subtle relationships of few parts, set as horizontal bands, each of specific color, weight, expanse, and density. In the suite at John Davis, the palette is limited to earth and light, tones of sun and soil sequenced with control that allows for resonance, glow, and surprise. Each color has its own voice, like an instrument in a small ensemble. The artist describes her approach as "maximum light with minimum means."

Apollonia (2018) consists of four bands of yellow and gold. Yet each color so impacts the others by the eye's comparisons of hue, weight, and light emission that the wide areas vie and synthesize. Areas of raw sepia linen allow each color area its place in this dialogue. The restricted range of hue gives the exhibition a stately rhythm and focus, which makes the titles, names of Greek gods and holy places, feel apt. As in the ancient temples, simplicity of means belies advanced decisions.