ColorField Remix

Washington Color: Two Legacies
Jane Haslem Gallery
Apr. 1 - May 31
janehaslemgallery.com

A show juxtaposing two important Washington painters who have made color and light the subject of their work. Both Bill Hill and Judith Seligson conceive paintings in ways that the Washington Color School initiated. Yet the results could hardly be more different from each other. Bill Hill builds large atmospheric paintings on canvas with multiple gestural layers over several years. Michael O'Sullivan wrote in the Washington Post, in 2006, that Bill Hill's work reflects "the legacy of such Washington painters as the late Leon Berkowitz and Sam Gilliam, in whose studio building Hill rented space during much of the 1980s." Judith Seligson builds smaller panel paintings from intervals of flat color. Eric Gibson, in The Washington Times, wrote in 1991: "The interactions of the colors make for intense, glowing compositions." How does a painting evoke light? Staining unprimed canvas, as many of the Washington Color School artists did, is one way. Hill and Seligson have carried on the tradition using other techniques. One is prompted to ask if there is such a thing as as "Washington Light", as painters have captured "Provincetown Light" or "Montauk Light". Both artists talk about their work as "commentary" or "interpretation", as if it had a literary quality. Both also use musical terms to talk about their work, as Gene Davis did.
Event Information:
Museum/Gallery Hours
noon - 5 pm Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and by appointment

Location
2025 Hillyer Pl. NW
Washington, DC
(202) 232-4644
Metro Station
Dupont Circle