NFS: Nostalgia for Symbolism
Gordon Payne / Selected Works
(November 18 - January 9, 2005)
Painting is an important part of Gordon Payne’s life. A senior artist who began in the 1950’s, his style is strongly rooted in the modernist tradition, a time when, as the artist says, “Belief in the real, the universal, the true was still alive.” Five decades later, Payne still questions his belief in art. He adds, “this idea is in question… we doubt. We are homesick (nostalgic) for meaning: Nostalgia for Symbolism.”
The selected works gathered for this exhibition show a diversity in his work. His large paintings, which make up the major part of the show, are expressive and heavily worked, cut out and collaged surfaces. They are purely abstract, avoiding all representation and narrative. To view them is to revel in the act of painting itself. Other works consist of smaller paintings with recognizable landscape features. Still other works, that Payne calls “landscape fragments” are a series of acrylic “skins” executed over several decades.
