The phrase “Constructive Vocabulary,” which served as the title of an exhibition held here in 2002, is an apt description of gallerist Nicole Schlégl’s view of abstract painting. Her commitment to supporting artists who continue to expand the vocabulary of abstraction has logically extended to Mark Williams, a New York–based artist best known for jaggedly volumetric black-and-white paintings on wood and MDF panels. Lately Williams has been moving in a different direction: His most recent works have abandoned three-dimensionality in favor of rigorous flatness. The postcard-size paintings look fragile and light, but their gleaming surfaces—sharp-edged areas of glossy paint or varnish on canvas, paper, or wood—have the same physicality as his sculptural panels. There’s also a new expansiveness in his palette. Williams continues to use contrasting light and dark tones to create dynamic compositions, but here, lush shades of yellow, red, ochre, beige and blue have replaced the starkness of black and white.
Translated from German by Emily Speers Mears.
