(Originally published on ArtSlant)
An
exhibition celebrating the use of grey paint doesn’t sound like the
most spectacular of prospects; the pigeon amongst the peacocks of the
gallery world if you will. But NYC gallerists Luxembourg & Dayan
have demonstrated how limitation can be the mother of invention with the
compact but compelling Grisaille, which inaugurates their new London space in Mayfair.
Without
colour dominating the works, other ideas can come to the fore, like
form, texture, surface, shape and contrast as well as the spectrum
between figuration and abstraction. Curator Alison Gingeras has asserted
her wish to defy Delacroix’s statement that “the enemy of all painting
is grey.” Instead, she sees the reductive qualities of the grisaille
palette as a launch pad into a world of formal and conceptual
possibilities.
That
makes things more intriguing even before we get to the list of names on
show here, the likes of Gerhard Richter, the workshop of Dürer, Pablo
Picasso, Fernand Léger, Rob Pruitt, and Cy Twombly.
It’s
a scholarly selection and hung in such a way as to offer views that
take in a number of works at one time – viewers can compare the
grid-like Parisian rooftops and plumes of smoke in Léger’s Les Fumées
sur les Toits; the IKEA print of New York which Pruitt has overpainted in
thick strips of oils; and Richter’s loosely painted aerial view of a
bombed cityscape, Stadtbild.
A pair of altarpiece wing panels from the workshop of Dürer and Picasso’s Nu Debout et femme assise
are back to back on one wall; two somber depictions of the figure that
are united in colour scheme diverge in terms of how they represent the
human form.
It’s not only painting on offer here, pencil shavings, latex and dirt all add to the mix. There’s also another branch of Grisaille
opening in New York in November, with an even more extensive roster of
names adding to this homage to monochrome. This is one grey area that’s
definitely worth exploring.
-- Laura Bushell
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