10 Mar 2020

Tom McGlynn: At Present

Rick Wester Fine Art

Reviewed by Dana Gordon

In painting in which color is the main mechanism, deliberately extreme precision can lead to ecstasy, or elsewhere. Tom McGlynn shows us some of the genre's hard-to-reach potentials.

The expression in such painting depends on the interaction of colored shapes alone. Any hint of narrative is an interference, and usually banished. Simple forms are placed precisely adjacent, to control the effects that they have on each other.

McGlynn uses, abuses, and extends this tradition, to vibrant effect and unexpected affect. By separating his shapes with significant amounts of space, he releases more varied and potent color action, adding emotional notes as well as playing on perceptions and expectations. The shapes seem to move: jumping, bumping, sliding, and jiggling.

The whole installation is a symphony of vibrating color, but it tends somewhat to stifle the individual paintings, whose beauty and personality could be better appreciated with more room around them.