Chalda Maloff catalog by Chalda Maloff

CHALDA MALOFF

RATIONAL EXUBERANCE

Rational Exuberance is an exhibit of digital paintings, presented in small editions as pigment ink prints on gloss paper, face-mounted to sheets of museum-grade acrylic. No photographic process was used in the creation of these artworks. Creative tools: Wacom tablet, Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, MAC, Epson 9800 printer. ®

Detail: Words in the Margins

COVER: Words in the Margins / 30” x 30” / Edition of 3 Digital painting / 2014

Detail: Words in the Margins

CHALDA MALOFF RATIONAL EXUBERANCE

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APRIL 28 – MAY 23, 2015

547 West 27th Street, Suite 201, New York, NY 10001 • 212-947-6100

Experiencing Rational Exuberance ing a deep blue-violet interior against a glistening cream background as it unfolds. It is sensuous, but ultimately exhibits a graphic presence.

The luminous and enigmatic works of Chalda Maloff captivate the viewer with a confluence of art and science. Calligraphic lines course through her paintings before dissolving into pools of shimmering color, while elsewhere tiny ink droplets cluster in schooling formations. These spots call to mind metamorphic transformation, or Art Nouveau pottery and glass; semi-transparent and ethereal. There is the sensation of floating. Other more geometric works challenge the relationship between free association and underlying structures.

Scale and proportion call to mind micro/macrocosmic relationships in Maloff ’s work, such as in the digital painting titled Altar of Secrets. Nothing less than the mysteries of the universe are brought forth in the complexly knotted round shape spilling out countless pink seeds. The organic configuration and tinted color scheme are arguably feminine, at least in the broader Jungian sense of regeneration and renewal. Bands of white light cross the space, acting as bursts of pure energy or light. It’s as if we’re witness to transfiguration in flux.

In principle, Maloff ’s works are the visual gestalt of digital processes. Trained early in computer science, the artist embraces art making as virtual bricolage, or intuitive construction of imagery and resources that already exist in the collective social consciousness. This exhibit therefore is a culmination of years of experimentation and growth, as the artist skillfully composes organic figurations through the latest software. The viewer is tempted to search for photographic origins in her work to ground the subjects in the corporeal world before recognizing their genesis as fully developed digital creations.

The body of work occasionally surprises with small vignettes of representational imagery. The Kiss initially evokes Gustav Klimt’s celebrated work by the same title. But Maloff ’s piece readily dissolves the Viennese master painting of decoration and figuration into an unearthly apparition. Absent is her suitor; her facial expression adrift atop a celestial body. Biomorphic designs echoed on each side nearly replicate each other, and suggest the duality of lips about to meet. The woman stands in the space between, in anticipation. Words in the Margins is alternately jarring in its asymmetrical balance, and suggests separate windows of space colliding in a pre-destined arrangement. The recognizable female face in the upper left quadrant is a disparate element, only as we see ourselves apart from nature,

Unmarked Door, as one of the more abstract pieces in the exhibition, still bears semblance to an exotic marine animal. Unfolding into relieved bilateral symmetry, the ambiguity of form is part of its allure. The winged shape suggests a cruciform entity, crossing unto itself with a repeated interior pattern. It can naturally be read as figurative, reveal-

mirrored in its unfathomable wake. But Maloff weaves these subjects together with a fluidity that asserts with brave certainty we are not separate from our cells.

the paintings become illusive objects, defying the suspension of weight in their inherent formation from paper, ink and clear acrylic. Maloff ’s world view travels throughout her work, and can be seen as a conscious optimism and faith in the order of things. There is a joyful awareness in creation. But she also leaves us room for mystery. She understands this perceived natural order must occasionally be overthrown to make way for a new artistic vision—and indeed, sublime beauty. Her digital paintings reveal an artist deeply connected to her visual practice, as the resilience of this new body of work affirms exploration within a personally constructed language. Traces of human fingerprints are embedded into her works, acting as faint vestiges of the personal in the universal. While clearly the products of a digital age, Maloff ’s artworks entrance us with a timeless spirit. I am delighted to see these pieces brought together for this exhibition that she has aptly titled Rational Exuberance.

Just as the larger works were created to human scale, the smaller pieces in the show are intimate in size. They are also to varying degrees more representational in subject matter. The artist gives us several up-close renderings of fish, using them as transmitters of energy and the basic life force. Elemental creatures, they survive mostly by instinct buried deep within their genetic code. Maloff doesn’t shy away from spiritual overtones in her work, understanding there is always more than meets the eye and spirit must guide intellect. She boldly extends visual splendor as a luxury, or even necessity of the soul. In Strobe Light and Holiday Light fish appear suspended in open air because of the white background. Rather than swimming in saturated pigments, they swim into light. Alabaster Marble conversely exhibits a lush surround. Turquoise and yellow bubbling waters exude radiance and dreamlike otherworldliness. The smooth surface in the presentation of these works further enhances this illusion of aqueous suspension. Floating without constraints of a traditional frame,

—Kristen T. Woodward, Professor of Art, Albright College in Reading, PA

Hand and Spirit / 30â€? x 30â€? / Edition of 3 Digital painting / 2015

Evolution and Involution / 30” x 30” / Edition of 3 Digital painting / 2014

Heartbeat / 30” x 30” / Edition of 3 Digital painting / 2014

Heartbeat / Detail

Midnight of the Mind / 30â€? x 30â€? / Edition of 3 Digital painting / 2014

The Kiss / 30” x 30” / Edition of 3 Digital painting / 2015

Shades of Silver / Preparitory

Shades of Silver / 30” x 30” / Edition of 3 Digital painting / 2015

Death and Life / 30” x 30” / Edition of 3 Digital painting / 2014

Unmarked Door / 30” x 30” / Edition of 3 Digital painting / 2014

Altar of Secrets / 30” x 30” / Edition of 3 Digital painting / 2014

Tradition and Innovation / 30” x 30” / Edition of 3 Digital painting / 2014

Strobe Light / 10” x 14” / Edition of 12 Digital painting / 2015

Sunlight / 10” x 14” / Edition of 12 Digital painting / 2015

Navigating by the Moon / 30â€? x 30â€? / Edition of 3 Digital painting / 2014

Echoes and Illustions / 30” x 30” / Edition of 3 Digital painting / 2014

Premonition of Winter / 30” x 30” / Edition of 3 Digital painting / 2014

Space and Silence / Peparaatory Sketch

Space and Silence / 30” x 30” / Edition of 3 Digital painting / 2014

Chalda Maloff: Working Options Some artists cultivate secrecy. They say little-tonothing. Even when pressed, what they finally divulge is cryptic. It’s good for business, obviously. But isn’t it also true that too much information could in fact mar the delicate interplay between the viewer and a work of art.

well for the work I do today.

Chalda Maloff, an artist with much experience professionally and personally, is more straightforward. She is happy to describe her rationale, her working method and her preferences. But otherwise, she’s discreet, leaving observers to find their own way through her densely orchestrated digital paintings.

CM: When I was working in oils or acrylics, upon bringing a painting to completion, I would often look at it and say, “I can do better.” I would review the creation process in my mind, analyzing my zigging where I should have zagged, and would sometimes start over with a second version. The usual outcome was that this second work was superior in some respects but had suffered in the qualities of passion and authenticity.

MJF: You’ve said your method offers access to textures and aesthetic effects that would be unavailable otherwise. Are there additional advantages to your medium?

In a Q & A with Brooklyn-based arts writer Michael J. Fressola, Maloff cites a time when she was less happy with her work than she is now, and describes how she came to befriend contemporary technology. And, here’s a highly unusual opportunity: in a realm where there are few guarantees, she’s willing to offer one.

In contrast, digital art provides options such as intermediate saves and multiple undo’s, which allow me to explore more extensively the countless visual possibilities at every stage of the process. As a result I am producing stronger compositions, more stimulating visual effects, and more precise detail. It is deeply gratifying.

MJF: Your paintings begin as drawings made with a stylus and an electronic tablet, using computer software. Doesn’t the tablet function like an empty sheet or a prepped canvas, as a vehicle for ideas that begin as images in the mind’s eye?

MJF: Are there drawbacks? CM: For an artwork being created with a computer and monitor, and ultimately to be viewed in some other way, potential drawbacks or pitfalls lie in the conversion process. Pixels on a screen will never be exactly the same color as physical ink on a piece of paper. It falls upon the digital artist to understand and anticipate a result that will be subtly different from what is appearing on the screen.

CM: Yes, exactly. My Wacom tablet, together with a computer file, functions as a blank backdrop. My stroke by stroke procedure of composing a digital painting bears similarities to the creation of a traditional media artwork. In fact, my years of experience with oils, acrylics, pottery, and etching, prepared me 22

MJF: Is it difficult to explain the procedure? Do viewers ever murmur: “Why not just draw or paint right on the paper?

those who bought abstract paintings in the 50’s which turned out to be painted by a monkey. This distrust is based on unfamiliarity, and as such, it is dissipating rapidly, especially with younger people.

CM: Actually I would get that question more in the 80’s when I was working in etching and aquatint. People wondered why an artist would go through the labor-intensive process of working an image into a metal plate with tools and successive acid baths, then inking the plate and running it through the press to transfer it to paper. “Why not just apply the ink directly to the paper? Wouldn’t that be easier? Haven’t you seen Phantom of the Opera?”

MJF: The best artists thrive on challenges. They’re happiest when the going gets rough and there are problems to solve and difficulties to conquer. What are yours? CM: I’ve had challenges, though I wouldn’t say I thrived on them. My first major solo exhibit of digital art (at Morris Graves Museum of Art in California) was entitled “Dancing in the Rain,” from the Eastern European proverb, “Whoever thinks sunshine is necessary for happiness, has never danced in the rain.”

There was no quick answer, of course. The viewer would need to invest the time into developing an appreciation for the medium. I don’t hear that question much today. Even the casual viewer will look at my current work and know it could not have been created with ordinary pens or brushes.

I had chronic pain at that time, something that it was hard to put a positive spin on. While working on that series of artworks I was reflecting on ways in which the bitter parts of life might bring the sweet parts into high relief.

MJF: It took photography many years to be taken seriously as fine art. Similarly digital painting is still suspect in some quarters. When will that change, do you think?

My challenges these days are of a different scale entirely, like not enough foam in my cappuccino this morning. MJF: Artists often have a hero, a role model or a beloved predecessor, someone whose work they hold in high regard. Who would you put on your list and why?

CM: Almost every modern gallery visitor has held a camera, but few have wielded a stylus. Distrust may arise when the viewer, unacquainted with the process, is unsure to what degree the artwork actually represents human skill, effort, and aesthetic sensibility.

CM: I am moved and inspired by Emil Nolde’s “unpainted pictures.” Prohibited by the Nazis from

No one wants to become the butt of a joke, such as 23

MJF: Television, computers and phones bombard us with fast-moving imagery. Some observers worry that the onslaught is so pervasive that it will mar our appreciation of fine art. What do you think?

practicing his art, Nolde painted these diminutive, fantastic works in secret. He used watercolors, which had no odor and thus carried less risk of discovery. Already of an advanced age, he supposedly planned to translate these “unpainted” works to “real” oil paintings at some later date. This was dedication.

CM: That has already happened, of course. Viewers stroll through a gallery, and they expect to absorb in a moment an artwork that has taken hours or weeks to create. Rather than rail against this reality, I incorporate it into my thought process. I understand that a viewer’s first encounter with one of my works will likely be brief and casual. I strive to create artworks that will give an immediate pay-off under those conditions.

MJF: If you could trade your life and times for some other setting, which timeframe appeals to you: Ancient Egypt in the 18th Dynasty (an era of unusual freedom), the early Renaissance in Italy, or Impressionist Paris? CM: I spent time in Egypt in 2010 just before the upheaval (friends accuse me of disturbing the force field wherever I go), and I felt intensely attracted to the styles of artistic expression in the Amarna period.

But these works will reveal more of themselves over time. I guarantee it.

Nonetheless if I had my choice, I would choose the early Renaissance in Italy. I did a semester in Florence as an undergrad, and the city was so steeped in history that the Trecento felt a breath away. I was drawn to the pervasive spirit of humanism, a celebration of the expression of human potential.

Case in point: one day my husband was looking at one of my pieces that had been hanging in our dining room. He backed away from it, then drew closer, puzzled, and finally said, “Was that face always there?”

Michael J. Fressola was the arts editor, writing about visual art, contemporary performance, music and dance in New York City, for the Staten Island Advance for more than 35 years.

BACK COVER: Holiday Light / 20” x 28” / Edition of 12 Digital painting / 2015

547 West 27th Street, Suite 201, New York, NY 10001 â€˘ 212-947-6100