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Steven
Salzman
186,000
Miles Per Second
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The Evil Twin
2006
Interference acrylic on canvas
38” x 30” |
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A focus
on the visual in “visual art” is my
starting point for exploring the process of perception
and cognition within paintings that present interactions
of light, color and space in clear, unified configurations.
The iridescent interference acrylic paints that are used
have an intrinsic complexity in their ability to change
color as a result of external lighting and viewer movement.
This characteristic immediately suggests new possibilities
for the analytic-cubist problematic of multiple views occupying
the same space. Through their extreme translucence, the
interference polymer allows for multiple planes of color-shifting
pigment to intertwine within an also shifting space so
that the 2-dimensional design and the literal, 3-dimensional
layering alternate and combine, or, become other, less
definable spaces. The critical contribution of external
light and viewer position begs the question of exactly
what is inside and what is outside the painting. As a way
of exploring this issue, drawing and composition are derived
from the paintings shape, proportion and outer-edge, where
subtle adjustments locate color-bands within or beyond
the perimeter. The drawing in my work is an ongoing extension
of an early, strong interest in “all-over” composition
and its’ contrast with “hierarchical” composition.
It is a major issue in analytic cubism, where the brushwork
grid and fractured rendering blend foreground and background,
as well as Jackson Pollock’s “classic” drip
and Frank Stella’s early black stripe paintings.
In my paintings, regular patterning and hardedge geometry
serve as a containing, counter-point to the amorphous,
open quality of the paint. Stella once spoke about how
in his work "What you see is what you see", and
that, ideally, he would limit the viewing of his paintings
to just a few seconds. My paintings, in contrast, emerge
slowly, as light changes occur temporally, while, in a
seemingly organic process; time becomes a part of the fabric
of the work. This unfolding experience makes these paintings
inherently intimate images that are also, by default, impossible
to mechanically reproduce.
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The
Good Twin
2005
Interference acrylic on canvas
38” x 30”'
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No More Holes
2005
Interference acrylic on canvas
20” x 16”
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Ellen Dreaming
2005
Interference acrylic on canvas
20” x 16”
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Doppler Indemnity
2007
Interference acrylic on canvas
22” x 18”
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Cuneiform Galore
2007
Interference acrylic on canvas
28” x 22"
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Victory at Agincourt
2005
Interference acrylic on canvas
12” x 22”
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Harold: King of the Vikings
2007
Interference acrylic on canvas
60” x 48”
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Angular Momentum Made Me
2006
Interference acrylic on canvas
84” x 60”
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Fermions and Bosons In Love
2005
Interference acrylic on canvas
12” x 22”
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Preincarnation
2005
Interference acrylic on canvas
25” x 20”
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The Golden Age
2005
Interference acrylic on canvas
84” x 60”
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The Tholian Web
2007
Interference acrylic on canvas
60” x 45”
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Transmigration Tribulation
2006
Interference acrylic on canvas
84” x 64.5”
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Exploring
the progress of paint, Salzman’s stripes are in service
to his medium, a found object known as Interference paint.
Interference pigments are infused with mica particles that
causes light to be fragmented, reflected back as its opposite.
Like an aureole laid out, iridescent and metaphysically
magnificent, the properties of the paint echo the pearlescent
possibilities of light and hue found in nature, breaking
down color in such a way that leaves no true demarcation
of space. This combines with the steadiness of Salzman’s
stripe, the fact that his are non-hierarchical compositions
- there are always the same number of each stripe,
never any more or less of any one stripe - to make
the paintings
boundless, extending well beyond the frame of the canvas
edge, not unlike a Luminist landscape for the late
20th century.
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Education:
Whitney Museum of American Art
Independent Study Program, New York, 1981-82
Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New
York, B.A. 1979
One-Person Exhibitions
2007 Frank Pictures
Gallery, Santa Monica
1994 Aero Studios,
New York
1994 Saint Peter's Church, New York
1994 Windows Exhibition, Saks Fifth
Avenue, New York
1994 Christopher Grimes Gallery, Santa Monica
1994 Frank Bernarducci Gallery, New York
1979 Thesis Exhibition, Procter Art Center, Bard College,
Annandale-on-Hudson
Selected Group Exhibitions
2006 Presentational Painting III The Art Gallery, Hunter
College, New York
2001 A Residue of Vision Gallery 18, New
York
2001 Works on Paper Plus Gallery 18, New York
1998 Transparent
Façade The Work Space, New York
1995 Maux Faux Ronald
Feldman Gallery, New York
1993 W139 & New York Gallery
W139, Amsterdam
1993
Presentational Painting The Art Gallery, Hunter
College, New York
1993
cadavre exquis The Drawing Center, New
York
1993
Things to Make Your Eyes Happy Muranushi Lederman Gallery,
New York
1993
Wall Gazer Dooley Le Cappellaine Gallery, New York
1993
Malta's
Cradle Solo Impressions, New York
1993
Blur Re:Mission Gallery,
New York
1992 Vibology White Columns, New York
1992
Triangle Artists Workshop,
Pine Plains
1992
Ecstasy Dooley Le Cappellaine Gallery, New York
1991 Ho-Hum
All Ye Faithful John Post Lee Gallery, New York
1991
Value Dooley
Le Cappellaine Gallery, New York
1991
90% / Space / 90% Dooley
Le Cappellaine Gallery, New York
1990 Real Placebo Bennet-Siegel
Gallery, New York
1990
A Question of Paint Hallwalls Contemporary
Arts Center, Buffalo
1989 The Contemporary Landscape Frank
Bernarducci Gallery, New York
1989
The Four Corners of Abstraction
I.G.I. Exhibition, New York
1988 Scale Frank Bernarducci Gallery,
New York
1998
Bigger and Deffer Mission West Gallery, New York
1998The Four Corners of Abstraction White Columns, New York
1998
Photo-Synthesis
Frank Bernarducci Gallery, New York
1986 Modern-Modern Mission Gallery, New
York
1986
The Readymade Painted Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson
1986
The Red Painting Show
Frank Bernarducci Gallery, New York
1986
New Work New York Hellander Gallery,
Palm Beach
1986 Post-Post Modernism Pyramid Club, New York
1985 Mo David Gallery, New
York
1982 Open Studios Exhibition Whitney Museum
ISP, New York
Projects
2001 Internet Project, The Journal of Contemporary Art
1993 Absolut Salzman, Advertisement for Absolut Vodka, Bomb
magazine
1992 Curator for Pain-ting, Procter Art Center,
Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson
1991 Curator for Pleasure,
Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo
1987 Co-curator
for Grand Design, Proctor Art Center, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson
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