Booth A6
For ADAA’s The Art Show, Petzel is pleased to present a solo booth of new works by Ross Bleckner. His large-scale paintings, which feature a recurring motif of flowers as well as more abstract imagery, reflect a range of influences, from Abstract Expressionism to Op Art. While flowers have become emblematic of the artist’s fascination with transience and transformation, this presentation brings together his more recent explorations of these themes.
“Most of these paintings were made during the strange years of 2020 to 2022. There was a lot of time to explore the many ideas that were floating in my head, those that you might usually forget or dismiss,” says Bleckner. “These paintings come from that time and place where peace of mind, experimentation, and agitation all intersected. If you imagine consciousness as an infinite stack of drawers, I try to keep opening one after the other – sometimes taking out an idea, mostly shutting the drawer. During these past years, the images and the things I wanted to try seemed to keep growing. Less contact with other people and a disgust with the shifting of the political body all over the world created a lot of tension that keeps my painting mind looking for solutions. The only way I know how is through the humility of painting.”
Bleckner tinges his rendering of nature’s beauty with a range of emotional and psychological undertones, exploring the tenor of transformation that comes with loss. His abstractions, composed in translucent swaths of oil paint, layer to create a depth of vision into the inner workings of the artist’s psyche. Employing a range of painterly techniques to help achieve his emblematic blur, Bleckner blends various elements, at times hidden underneath the surface, emerging on top, or externally laid over. This play on the functions of consciousness, where the human condition and our biological makeup intersect, continue to fuel Bleckner’s work.
The works available here will also be on view at Petzel’s stand at ADAA Art Show, Booth A6.