michael quadland - Behnke • Doherty Gallery

JUST BENEATH THE SURFACE:
THE GRID SERIES
PA I N T I N G S B Y
M I C H A E L Q UA D L A N D
BEHNKE
•
D OHERTY G ALLERY
American & Asian Fine Arts
A
t first glance, Michael Quadland’s
paintings appear deceptively simple.
Yet upon closer study, they reveal
themselves to be extraordinarily complex.
He is perhaps most readily described as a
Color Field painter, and indeed his work is
deeply influenced by the Abstract Expressionist Color Field painters of the 1940’s
and 1950’s whose large expanses of flat,
solid color literally spread across the canvas in vast fields of unbroken surface. There
are clear antecedents to his paintings in the
early works of Clifford Still, Barnett Newman and Hans Hofmann. But these artists
focused first and foremost on consistency
of form and surface and consciously
de-emphasized brushstroke and texture.
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By scratching out a seemingly endless configuration
of grids, squares, and lines, Quadland infuses his
paintings with intense energy.
F
3
or Quadland, while saturated
color is essential to creating
the overall mood of a piece, it
is not the end goal in and of itself.
Building his paintings painstakingly layer by layer and then selectively scraping away what he has
laid down, he creates extraordinary
depth and mystery. Color is at one
moment revealed, and in the next
hidden. The resulting shades and
hues enter into dialogue with each
other. The impact on the viewer is
as much emotional as visual.
B
ut Quadland then takes things
a step further. By scratching out a seemingly endless
configuration of grids, squares, and
lines, the artist infuses his paintings
with intense energy. Upon reflection, his works seem to constantly
transform themselves as different
elements of underlying patterns
alternately take the forefront, only
to recede and grant prominence of
place to another arrangement. The
result is an ever-changing vision
of immense dynamism. His works
immediately bring to mind Robert Richenburg’s masterful “black
paintings” of 1958-64 in which the
artist literally scraped away the canvas’s surface to reveal all that was
already going on underneath.
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ichael Quadland began his artistic
career as an undergraduate art
major at Dartmouth College. A
multiple decade hiatus ensued during
which he focused on a career in clinical psychology and teaching. It is only
recently that he has come full circle and
returned to his roots as an artist. The
intervening years spent uncovering hidden emotion and inner complexity have
clearly not been lost but rather serve
to inform his art. Now he leaves to the
viewer the task of unraveling the mysteries that lie just beneath the surface.
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His works seem to
constantly transform
themselves as
different elements
of underlying patterns
alternately take
the forefront.
Litchfield Green Acrylic on Board 27 ½” x 45”
Arousal Nine
Acrylic on Board
48” x 48”
1
Elaboration
Acrylic on Board
24” x 48”
2
Smolder Red
Acrylic on Board
48” x 24”
3
Loose Weave
Acrylic on Board
48” x 48”
4
Nine Nine
Acrylic on Board
24” x 24”
5
New Growth
Acrylic on Board
24” x 24”
6
Teal Gray
Acrylic on Board
16” x 16”
Front Cover
6 Green Hill
•
Washington Depot, CT 06794
|
860.868.1655 |
info@behnkedoherty.com
behnkedohertygallery.com