Contributed by Mary Jones / Katy Crowe returns to as-is.la with “Lunar Shift,” a superb second show of eleven lively and resonant abstract paintings. All are oil on linen works completed within the last year, six of them 52 x 42 inches and five 24 x 18 inches. A strikingly linear installation puts two opposing walls of the gallery into play, with the paintings equally spaced. The formality of the presentation underscores the dichotomy between window and object inherent in all paintings but Crowe’s especially, and brings out buoyant rhythms from painting to painting.
Spheres and vertical rectangles drift, double, and reconfigure as both positive and negative shapes. Their imperfect geometry reflects an unaided, unhurried hand while rich color relationships favor potent materiality over a diagrammatic presentation. Like Julia Rommel, Hasani Sahlehe, and Christopher Peterson, Crowe’s work incorporates an initial nod to Modernist abstraction that evolves through mediation. Underpinned by extensive study of California abstract painting and architecture and decades of focused process, Crowe’s new work reflects a distinctive and refined language.
The act and effort of perception is a recurring motif. She cites Orphism as a renewed influence, emphasizing light and color as sensation, evident in her syncopated palette of tertiary twilight hues that pulse through the series. Crowe’s circles are especially active, at once signifying portals, eyeballs, orbs, or moons. A particular trick of this new work lies in the captivating illusion of changing positions and transformations. The implied pace is slow, pleasurable, and traceable, in and out of light, behind and in front of the foreground and background. The linear installation showcases Crowe’s light-and-shadow poetics, as a chart might clarify the phases of the moon.
The lunar shift of the title refers to the eccentricities of the moon’s orbit, imperceptible to the human eye, which as an emblematic form was central to Crowe’s first show at the gallery. Now her gaze has turned outward, but her subtle abstraction defies easy physical and psychological differentiation between inner and outer space. Soft edges and a sensual touch keep every solution malleable and fluid as well as sumptuously beautiful.
The composition of Psamathe resembles architecture. A passage of hazy blue bisects background vertical stripes of yellow gray, the contrast of colors creating the impression of an opening, perhaps a glimpse of sky. Nestled into or drifting through the lower planes is a heavily saturated red orb. On the left is its doppelganger, a much larger half circle. Through an implicit portal, the colors change, suggesting shadows and traces of previous positions. Like Amy Sillman, Crowe expertly utilizes the sensation of color as weight and registers comparisons between the process of painting with that of building. At times, the rectangles manifest a solidity evocative of stuccoed walls, accented by the direction and texture of the brushwork. As Joanna Pousette-Dart does, Crowe distills the memories and influences of her travels and interest in archeological sites into abstract form.
The 2024 solar eclipse seems to be a persistent referent. In Mneme, a large sphere of radiant orange dominates. It supports – or, like a Cubist table, upends – a midnight blue circle or hole, overlaid with a violet shape like that of a gibbous moon. Warm terracotta hues seem to float towards the viewer, the composition barely contained by the canvas. Throughout “Lunar Shift,” Crowe uses the intersection of circles to create lenticular shapes, partial circles, or slivers. Their axes impart diagonal movement to the compositions, indicating something askew, in flux, and momentary, and telegraphing imminent change. “Eclipse” describes not only to the passing of celestial bodies but also decline – a sadly current topic.
Crowe’s attention to surface and process calls the viewer to reflect on impermanence and distance, and sensation and imagination drive her investigation of perception. But she also stresses the vulnerability and fallibility of the body as the corporeal vehicle of experience. In her hands, painting allows that experience to be conjured, traversed, and bearable.
“Katy Crowe: Lunar Shift,” as-is.la, 1133 Venice Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA. Through October 12, 2024.
About the author: Mary Jones is an artist working in NYC.
I wish I were able to come to LA to see this show, especially since Mary says the pictures in the gallery play off one another very beautifully. Katy has been working with the “simple-but-deliberately-ever-so-slightly-off” composition for a very long time, and paradoxical as I might seem in saying this, this seems to have been perfectly achieved with these new paintings.
I love art where I can sense deep roots, and with Katy, the Orphic Cubist tradition shines through. No question about it, though. She’s cultivated her own paintings in her own way.
These paintings look beautiful and soulful . Thanks for introducing me to them Mary.
Crowe brings Abstract back in a big way. Its nice to see Abstraction that evidences control and decision making. Sometimes making this kind of work takes as much skill as a still-life. Great looking show!