Gunther Forg's 'Lead Paintings' on View at Skarstedt, Now thru 3/28

Skarstedt announces an exhibition of work by the late German artist Gunther Forg, at their uptown gallery this February. This exhibition-remarkably only the third time Forg's work has been shown in the United States in nearly two decades-will showcase 9 of the artist's signature paintings on lead, dating from 1986-1990. Gunther Forg: Lead Paintings will be on view at Skarstedt (20 E. 79th Street) from today, February 19 through March 28, 2015.

Throughout his career, Forg co-opted various uncommon materials as painting supports-the most notable of which was lead. Using imagery born of abstract painting and minimalism, Forg built upon the work of predecessors such as Blinky Palermo and allowed the material to become his vehiclfe for expression. Forg said of these works, "I like very much the qualities of lead - the surface, the heaviness... I like to react on things, with the normal canvas you often have to kill the ground, give it something to react against. With the metals you already have something - its scratches, scrapes."

To create these paintings, Forg wrapped lead sheets over wood, then painted each surface with acrylic. The large-scale yet minimal compositions visibly reference American color field painters such as Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman. A number of works in the exhibition feature variations of Newman's horizontal 'zips'. It's important to note that Forg did not share the movement's metaphysical ambitions, but instead intended his Lead Paintings as a visual homage to color field abstraction. The series' reductive compositions exist as Forg intended: fields of experimentation in painting.

The uneven lead surfaces introduce tension between the flatness of the picture plane and the dimensionality of Forg's brushstrokes. With each composition layered over a matte lead base, the success of the Lead Paintings relies upon variations in pressure applied to the brush. These variances, as well as the opaque fast-drying nature of acrylic, give prominence to color density and weight. Absorbing nothing, the lead surfaces reveal brushwork both laconic and brisk.