Gregory Botts: Jigsaw Poetry

GREGORY BOTTS

JIGSAW POETRY T H E N AT U R E B A S E D A B S T R A C T I O N S OF GREGORY BOTTS Gregory Botts’ work stems from his thir ty-year experience of painting directly from nature and then using those pleinair paintings as a source for large, more-or-less abstract studio paintings. He has painted in some of the most extreme picturesque American landscapes and recorded his experiences with a deft touch and a fluent brush. But the paintings in this exhibition don’t stop ther e- wher e Boudin, Mar quet and Fairfield Por ter wor ked- they step far ther into an invented pictorial space. By dissecting the landscape into its component par ts and remixing the elements into montage compositions, Gregory’s paintings link abstraction and representation and are simultaneously f l u i d a n d a r c h i t e c t o n i c . O c c a s i o n a l l y, a g e o m e t r i c c o l o r form is superimposed over a landscape, like a metaphysical b i l l b o a r d a d v e r t i s i n g t h e m a r r i a g e o f i d e a a n d a c t u a l i t y.

The first paintings I knew of Gregory’s were done in an improvised outdoor studio in a stand of eucalyptus trees sur rounded by an estuar y in Isla Vista, Califor nia.

T hose black and white paintings didn’t simply r elay the extraordinary beauty of the place. Instead they interpreted the rush of our experience walking in the landscape as our heads bob and our eyes swim in the field of vision. In those 1980’s paintings Greg mastered a densely layered grisaille with a Franz Kline-like surety of painter ly gesture.

Twenty years later Gregory’s paintings are clearer - like giant watercolor frescos weaving together his experiences in other landscapes such as the deser t near his studio in Abiquiu, New Mexico or the mountains around Aspen, Color ado. His process of painting outdoor s enlivens his

s t u d i o g e o m e t r y w i t h l i g h t a n d m o i s t u r e a n d a i r. I n t h e w a y Marsden Har tley makes baguette clouds or Marin paints waves like scratchy lightning, Gregory transforms his motifs, painting Aspen trees swooning in gold light like elegant actors in a Japanese Noh play or black sunflower silhouettes arching like overhanging streetlamps a g a i n s t a b i g b l u e N e w M e x i c o s k y.

In reference to the discussion in Gregory’s work between the real and the abstract, it’s possible to see Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings as resembling the thickets and bushes around his studio in Springs, Long Island. The p o s t - H o f f m a n g r o u p o f N e w Yo r k p a i n t e r s s u c h a s L e l a n d B e l l , L o u i s a M a t t h i a s d o t t i r, P a u l R e s i k a , P e t e r H e i n e m a n n and Paul Georges whose work collectively influenced G r e g o r y a s a y o u n g p a i n t e r, f o r g e d a s c h o o l o f p a i n t i n g from life that was nonetheless drenched in the abstract language of picture making. Gregor y comes out of these different traditions and is the logical inheritor of their a r t i s t i c g e n e r o s i t y.

He emerges innocently but not naïvely into a world where n a t u r e t h r e a t e n s t o b e c o m e s o m e h o w “ u n n a t u r a l . ” Ye t w h e n we view the still sublime landscape through the prism of G r e g o r y ’ s s e n s i b i l i t y, e x p e r i e n c e a n d i d e n t i f i c a t i o n w i t h place, we are made to perceive the powerful relationship that continues to exist between nature and painting and us.

Steven Har vey NYC 10/06

TO P R E V I E W T H E E X H I B I T O N L I N E , V I S I T: ht t p ://www.sulli v a ngoss.com/exhibits/botts_g r e go r y. a s p

ASPEN SQUARE, NIGHT STUDIO #1, 2006 1 0 2 x 1 0 2 I N C H E S | O I L O N C A N VA S

ASPEN CROP #1, 2006 4 8 x 3 6 I N C H E S | O I L O N C A N VA S

ASPEN NIGHT #4, 2006 3 6 x 4 8 I N C H E S | O I L O N C A N VA S

MYTHIC ERUPTION, 2006 9 0 . 5 x 6 8 I N C H E S | O I L O N C A N VA S

REMEMBERING ASPENS, 2006 4 2 x 4 2 I N C H E S | O I L O N C A N VA S

O C E A N AT P O I N T S U R , 2 0 0 2 - 2 0 0 6 9 1 x 9 1 I N C H E S | O I L O N C A N VA S

BLUE SQUARE, SUNFLOWERS, 2006 6 8 x 6 8 I N C H E S | O I L O N C A N VA S

M A D R I D, N I G H T S T U D I O # 6 , 2 0 0 4 - 2 0 0 6 9 1 x 6 7 I N C H E S | O I L O N C A N VA S OV E R B OA R D

ON EXHIBIT NOVEMBER 29, 2006 THROUGH JANUARY 14, 2007 RECEPTION S AT U R DAY DECEMBER 2, 2006 FROM 5 - 7PM 1 1 E A S T A N A P A M U S T. S A N TA B A R B A R A , C A We ar e staying open late to welcome ar tists, collector s, and interested community members to come explore our exhibition of Gregory Botts’ paintings and our exhibit of early California paintings.

The night will feature a chance for good

c o n v e r s a t i o n , r e f r e s h m e n t s , a n d a n o - h o s t b a r.

C O V E R : H E R E O R N O W, O R O R A N G E S Q U A R E , 2 0 0 6 1 0 8 x 1 0 8 I N C H E S | O I L O N C A N VA S RECEPTION: ASPENS, ORANGE STRIPE (DETAIL), 2006 9 6 x 6 0 I N C H E S | O I L O N C A N VA S OV E R B OA R D

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