Have you met…Paul Pagk?

An introduction can be a wonderful thing. You can meet interesting people, and make new friends. You can be introduced to your new favorite foods, books, music, or artist.

I’d like to introduce you to some of my favorite artists. Some of whom I’ve been familiar with for years, and others I’ve only recently been introduced to.

The person I’d like to introduce is the artist Paul Pagk.

Féerie, 2012 oil on linen 65″ X 64

Statement

four walls… east  south west hold paintings… west south paintings are stored with a possibility of viewing one painting each facing out… doors to east and west… main painting wall east… two windows facing north… hudson river west… cement floor… work table glass palette south… pigments… oils…. medium… varnishes… brushes… rags…  rabbit skin glue oil emulsion white prepared on stretched linen… 76” 74” 65” 74” 62” 60” 28” 27”… white surface… line to surface… white black gray black white… white finding place… gray black composing structure… defining place… color brush primed linen… color form surface… red white pink black  purple violet white red blue yellow green… green yellow… orange yellow… yellow orange… orange red… red blue… green blue… violet purple blue green yellow orange… blue red… red orange…  carmine red… blue magenta… purple violet yellow… acid yellow… electric blue… blue… deep violet… brown… ochre… copper… lead… titanium… cobalt… cadmium… zinc… metal… natural… earth… organic… synthetic… mineral… stone… smooth… grit… thick… heavy… light… opaque… translucent… shine… matt… acid soar sweet wet dry warm cold bright dark… pigments… in waiting… pigment ground into paint… thick… buttery… dry… liquid… brush… paint…. pull… trace… plane… line… direction… body hand brush surface… applied controlled smeared slippery… line developing structure…  line color form… abstract… suggestive… elusive… gradually materializing… appearing to disappear materialized other… progressing with time… time absorbed in… line crosses line… line meets edge… color line encounters line… color comes upon line… line lies in color… surface covers line… surface light… light from within… light coming onto… absorbed slowly returning out… reverberating… shimmering… reflecting… impenetrable… surface… mirror… window… structure opening upon outside from inside… painting presence… function that holds gaze… capturing by passer… time stopped… structure… limits off limits… off center… enters from right may also be from elsewhere… contained… belonging to other… pictorial space… air breath… color surface… transparent… opaque… layered time… basic essential elements forming visual complexity… color expanse covers… expanding over line… color on color… primrose yellow on yellow… blue on blue… red over grey line on red… orange on orange pink line caught between… orange over yellow… yellow in orange… cobalt blue on green… cadmium red over greenish blue…  mental structure within color… color expands pushing painting’s boundaries… structure in void… searching the intimate… lines cross…. lines meet… placing local… colors shift constantly changing…. orange moves from once was orange to acid yellow with green hue… two horizontal pink rectangles that were once cobalt blue one above one below with an inch wide line connecting each to the right edge surrounded by a field of deep ultramarine blue… purple/violet field ice neon blue lines which began light yellow… lines caught in event… line structure incident… color emanating… color aura occupies space… indefinable hue… color as color a manifestation of it’s self… palpable color… pigment besides the color it contains is identifiable material… actual… concrete… embodying color… surface painting layered energy… process… memory of enactments from under… painting always in the present with memories of yesterday’s gestures… acting upon breaks into tomorrow… transcending the known enters the unexpected… not granting all at once… slow reveal… surface color stretched pulled… pictorial tension… painting extends perception’s limits… viewer’s gaze caught in what appears logical but declines to be so… no pause constantly opening… unraveling… questions answers more questions than answers questions actions decisions… actions questions… what maybe answers bring on more questions present infinite possibilities in the singular… open painting… moments in time… decisions developed result through picture happenings… painting comes into being due to one and many pictorial events… viewer held in gaze…  eyes fixed at reading the painting in all its reason… caught in space between… destined determined place…  body in paint to viewer to painting… painting to body… body in the read… viewer  painter painting in mutual gaze… one to one to one… other to one… fluids… transferred… materials transformed… energy in the still… in suspended time… painting into point of beyond… body in front… palpable void between viewer and painting… void activating pictorial space… the breath…  body in void… mind in structure… space amid… object painting… off square square… 4 edges…  4 sides… 4 corners… 2 inches deep… 76 inches x 74 inches… a need to experience the painting object in the real… movement in front… ground becomes  figure… figure turns into ground… gestalt what was now is other…  space… void… time… layers… painting… questions in layered time… pictorial surface… time covered moments… layered over changing what was to what will… time constantly moves… painting performs in the still… such as total painting… subject painting at it’s core… absolute… painting in the constant still…  being and mind put in moment of suspended space… painting pushed to the extreme… always changing altering until left at the magical time of completion but open never ultimately finished although arrived at passed on to next pictorial enactment… demanding and non complaisant… occupies physical location engages mental place… painting with in painting’s language… not heard seen… paint material… tension energy silent… bewitching… color form structure light brought to the unchangeable constant changing… memories from beneath… past gestures… known into the unknown… aura… presence… beyond into the unexpected… a renewal within the constant same… each day new pictorial gestures on past gestures… gestures repeated… painting gesture in paint lust…  a yearn within the palpable picture plane… tension contained in visual pictorial thought… light from within… breath through the painted…  complexity in the seemingly simple… engulfed memory in the present… morning 6:55… check into studio… breakfast… must continue not yet at where I want the painting to be… continue… a new day… some will happen some will need time to…. give painting space… light/space… what was given give to the next… day to night day spent night painting… painting the none definable with words… it is it’s language… painting is of painting…

Paul Pagk September 2010.

Das Inner Dasein, 2008 2009 oil on linen 65″ x 74″

Paul Pagk was born in England UK in 1962. He has lived in England, Austria, France and lives and works in New York since 1988.

 EDUCATION:

1978 to 1982: École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France.

Other material relating to Paul Pagk.

Artist Website: Paul Pagk.

(standard) Interview: Paul Pagk.

NewArtTV: Paul Pagk.

Arts in Bushwick: Paul Pagk.

ArtSlant: Paul Pagk.

Art Orbiter: Paul Pagk.

Visual Discrepancies: Paul Pagk.

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