“Light and dark, dry and wet, reflective and absorptive, these qualities give the different multiples of the painting a distinct visual rhythm...The rhythms change with the light and with the position and movements of the viewer.”
–Winston Roeth
Painting is color. Winston Roeth (b. 1945, Chicago) paints with color—in flat, monochrome planes. What at first seems quite simple turns out to be very complex upon closer inspection. Layers of color unfold an optical effect that lifts color from its surroundings to conceal the materiality of the carrier almost to the point of invisibility. Color is light. We perceive it as colored light, reflected by different surfaces in different spectra. Where the surface is structured, the color space is “furrowed”. Fine grains and disruptions create a play of light and shadow that undermines the purely optical effect of color. Winston Roeth's painting is like an investigation of color: hue, space, application and material surface texture produce ever new variations. Light is of central importance here—as iridescence in the movement of the eye, of the viewer, and, above all, in the works themselves. It is no coincidence, then, that many of his titles are reminiscent of bright sunlight, dark nights or an infinite possibility of shades in-between. Winston Roeth captures light moods in his paintings like moments in time, allowing us to immerse ourselves in the special light of each individual hour.
“Winston Roeth: Speed of Light” is on view from September 11, 2020 through February 21, 2021.