Garth Weiser’s thirteen exquisite paintings in this show seem to grate and incise past the graphic veneers of his earlier work—with its penchant for gradients, macro dots, pin-striping, and refractive or sculptural planes—toward some secret inner dimension. In a majority of works, vibratory moiré-like designs emerge from tight, toothy diamond lattices of monochrome paint that screen a back layer of colorful blotches or a uniform hue. The dominant pattern at once recalls rippling fluid, landslides, wood grain, and topographic contour lines, as if the push of an invisible vector were warping hard-edge grids into flexile mesh. Up close, the paintings’ surform finish can look faceted, scaly, even spiny; when peeling off the tape used for exact striations, Weiser has occasionally left tiny, glistening thorns of paint. Our interest flickers between such surface texture and the throbbing colors beneath, like the fluorescent orange that appears coral within the polished white-gray web of Unimark Unlimited (all works 2011), or bits of red and lime green that mottle the night-blue oscillating through Nautilus. Depending on viewing distance, this mode of perforated vision can feel occultish or distilling. Though Op art is a chief point of reference, skinny, stray paint drizzles throughout add vibrant interference to the optical hum and reverb.
Bright copper-leafed paintings, such as Arcadia and Grinder, may be subject to more geometric laws. The copper-leaf membrane in Drawing #32, the smallest work here, has been variously punctured, embossed, and dotted with white paint for a part-distressed, part-burnished surface that evokes corroding circuitry as well as an ancient map. At a mere eight and a half by eleven inches, it is elegant evidence of Weiser’s ability to magnetize and puzzle the eye at any scale and distance.
