22 May 2017

Dana Gordon: New Paintings 2015-2017

Sideshow Gallery

Reviewed by Ann Saul

Dana Gordon's new work suggests what color might do, left to its own devices. In the painting Coming To, it organizes itself on the right side into squares overlaid with shapes that interrupt the grid. On the left, it spreads itself in broad swatches barely covering the canvas, sometimes congealing into perfect circles that allow colors underneath to show. Paint skitters across the canvas like a lightning bug, tying all the parts together and leaving tiny splashes in its wake.

Under the artist's hand, the bright colors call out to each other in exuberance, refusing any rest for the eye. The dense pattern set against the primary colors creates a visual tug-of-war refereed by the black and red circles. At the bottom, the empty blue circle suggests that all the colors could go running off the canvas at any time. The movement, the spectacle, the intense reality of paint on canvas sparks exhilaration and commands attention. These powerful paintings are not for the faint-of-heart.