Continuing through December 30, 2010
Until 2002, G. Lewis Clevenger was a landscape painter. That year, he transitioned to a hard-edged abstract style with roots in his long-standing interest in the archetypal ranch home of the 1950s. Brightly hued, jauntily rhythmic in composition, the works exuded a confident rectilinear panache that many have found endearing. Over the past two years, Clevenger has begun to deviate from this neoplastic-like orthodoxy, gradually introducing curvilinear elements into his picture planes.
The works in this show advance this strategem to new levels of departure and invention. In paintings such as \"Chat Room\" and \"Last Summer\'s Garden\" the signature grids have given way to irregular arcs, circles, and slivers, which jostle and cluster together in ways that obliquely recall Stuart Davis. Stylistic evolution is a tricky business, but Clevenger is a case study in how to do so effectively. With each exhibition, he advances a stylistic motif that flows organically, yet deliberately, from what came before.
Pulliam Gallery
