SONIA GECHTOFF
2022-06-13Gechtoff is best known for her atmospheric abstractions of swirling colors redolent of seas, skies or smoke. Inspired by the work of Clyfford Still, Gechtoff developed a distinct technique of palette knife painting. Her drawings were executed similarly, with long deliberate strokes of graphite that evoke windswept grasses and vegetation.
By the 1970s, Gechtoff had fully transitioned from oil paints to acrylic. Until this point, she had considered painting and drawing to be wholly separate, if equally important, aspects of her art practice. However, the flat, matte, and fast drying surfaces of acrylic provided new opportunities to combine painting and drawing media. Working on both paper and canvas, Gechtoff applied silvery graphite over most of her paintings for the last few decades of her life, contrasting flat planes of color with textural and compositional effects only possible through drawing.
Opposite – Celestial Red, 1994
Exhibition runs through to August 26th, 2022
Andrew Kreps Gallery
22 Cortlandt Alley
10013 New York
USA
