January 4th-February 15th, 2013 | The Inez Greenberg Gallery | Bloomington, MN
Contemporary artists Shawn McNulty and Silvana LaCreta Ravena both understand and apply multiple layering in their abstract painting as a way to introduce the elements of design: form, color, and composition. McNulty uses large commercial grade palette knives to create the layers and textures in his paintings through a series application, scraping, slicing, reapplication, and a technique he calls “scuffling” which involves a repetitive chopping motion. McNulty is influenced by Abstract Expressionism and he combines the physicality of the genre’s action painting with the intensity of color field painting. Ravena uses her layering technique as a way to explore the concept of memory through the meditation of light and color. Ravena says she draws from her experience as a clinical psychologist to infuse her work with layering and textures of paint as a metaphor for the way we layer memories in our mind to mark the passage of time. Ravena states, “Memory is the way we try to overcome the impermanence of life.”
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