23 Oct 2020

Gideon Bok: Blackstar

Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects

Reviewed by Franklin Einspruch

Gideon Bok paints at astronomically high levels of doubt. Clearly familiar with a deep range of technical options regarding oil paint, he approaches each canvas with a spirit of experimentation that must result in regular disasters. But when they work out, they succeed with the thrill of a somersault on a tightrope.

The recent paintings at Steven Harvey are keyed around a Women's March sign that caught Bok's attention, sporting orange and neon pink that were not previously a part of his palette. This led to investigations of optical mixing, with intense colors going down as a base, thereafter obliging Bok to beat them into submission. Portrait of Ada/Portrait of Helen (2019-2020) records the history of one such effort, as a buzzing atmosphere of cool-on-warm hachure contains Cubist accretions of time, people, and objects in the Maine barn-cum-studio where much of interest seems to be going on in the pandemic-necessitated isolation - does a rock band practice there?

Charlie and Emmett (2019) pictures a dog in the lap of a skeleton, poetically summing up life in the studio.