ANNE RAYMOND'S "SIGHT LINES"
Anne Raymond uses energy as content in paintings that pulsate with vigorous drawing gestures, reminding us that such direct gestures can take on new meaning in an era of technologically assisted marks. Her insistent and obsessive linear movements generate tremendous power. Lines are loose and alive. They accumulate, suggest specific and non-specific space, then often unravel, disintegrate, and imply that fracturing and instability might be a valid way to perceive the world. At times the action seems to parallel the restlessness, as well as the repetition inherent in nature.
The surface itself can seem electrified, and this calls attention to the way Raymond manipulates both pigment and luminosity by adding glazes and then bold wipe-aways to her creative steps.
Light coming from the surface provides its own sense of motion. This kind of surface movement can seem to change its fairly complex character under different environmental conditions.
These luminous qualities provide a transparency that allows layers of color to contribute significantly to the energy. Raymond's carefully orchestrated tones shift according to their optical weight, lending considerable momentum and creating a feeling of depth. Often there is a psychological identification with nature, or with the seasons, and the tension between the subjective and the objective can generate added force. While this body of work derives, in many ways, from the visual language of abstract expressionism, there is a spirit-filled dynamic that feels very contemporary.
By Phyllis Braff April 2008
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