Edition Announcement #114 - David Corbett

Tuesday greetings, collectors! I am nearly, mostly 100% recouped, which is a good thing indeed. I'm relieved to be heading into tonight's Hey, Hot Shot! panel review with a sharp mind and clear vision. (As are the contenders, I'd imagine.) I'm looking forward to an evening spent evaluating entries with some of the smartest people I know, Ms. Sara Distin among them. Sara proved herself to be the most able of email understudies when asked (at the verylastminute of course) to introduce Clifton's edition last Thursday. So big thanks to Sara, and on with the introductions!

David Corbett's editions, Untitled (blue) and Shill, are richly layered abstractions with sturdy roots connecting them to figure and landscape. Bill Gross, director of his Chicago gallery, 65Grand sees a bit of 19th century romanticism a la David Casper Friedrich, but filtered first through the influence of the San Francisco Mission School, JB fave Chris Johanson in particular, then later informed by Thomas Nozkowski when David was at Rutgers. He also sees a glimpse of Philip Guston in David's practice, and he's got a good point.

David's own special sauce worked into that formidable mix is what makes his works unique — enamel paint is assertive, weighty, and as he describes it, increasingly risky when poured in layers. The interplay of colors is enhanced by the unfamiliar and irregular densities of enamel on canvas. His accumulated layers of color and influence belie a weighty intellectual investigation of painting via practice, but one that's ripe with pleasure and beauty.

Exploring and enjoying David's work has led me to create connections of my own, with other artists in the 20x200 archive. Whether it's color, composition or subject, this process of understanding why I look at one work and see something of another's leads me to a deeper understanding of why I like what I like. I'm still in the process of putting it all into words, but the journey to forming them is part of the fun. Here are a few editions that David's paintings brought to mind:

Space and Illusion by Carrie Marill

Balloons by Juliane Eirich

In One Ear, Out the Other by Jessica Snow

Flying Colors by Ann Tarantino

The Mountain of Tomorrow's Sunrise by William Crump

Many Mountains by Ky Anderson

Untitled (Hanoi no.2) by Kelly Shimoda

Radar by Aili Schmeltz

With this newsletter running long and my time running short, I'll leave you on your own to connect the dots. 'Til tomorrow, my friends!

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