"Agent" - Large Contemporary Abstract Mixed-Media Painting by G. Campbell Lyman

Description

Artist's Statement - The list of what goes into the making of these large and complex paintings includes everything from … more Artist's Statement - The list of what goes into the making of these large and complex paintings includes everything from precious small-batch oil paints to common house paint, along with tar, acrylic paint, charcoal, pastel, lacquer and modeling paste. Influences include Robert Rauschenberg, Julian Schnabel and Terry Winters. But the most direct inspiration for this series was the show of Albert Oehlen's paintings at the Gagosian in 2012, arousing what one critic called “a sense of delight and play” that harkens back to Rauschenberg's combine paintings of the late 50's. This is part of a series that has been ongoing for several years, but the paintings up until now have all been sold privately, directly to collectors and designers, often before completion. There is no availability in the secondary (auction) market as of now. These paintings have been placed not only in contemporary settings, but surprisingly in rooms of fine antiques as well, creating a tension between the classic and the contemporary -- like the abstract works you sometimes see in uber-traditional dining and living rooms of famous collectors. This is a large painting that will make its presence felt throughout an entire room.

“These paintings are a refreshing departure from the current abstract art world’s seemingly endless parade of passages of color with Twomblyish drawing providing form, a style that is easily mimicked and has become a sort of “safe” style. There are confident decisions in these paintings appearing as commitments of strongly delineated forms that give the work a visceral, confident and playful soul, increasingly missing from contemporary expressionist abstraction. They are the paintings of a real painter rather than a decorative artist.” ArtSeen, 2018 less