ARTISTS
Ron Gorchov
Ron Gorchov鈥檚 painting 鈥淪erapis鈥� looms like a guardian over those who enter the artist鈥檚 current exhibition at Nicholas Robinson Gallery. 鈥淪erapis鈥�
Ben La Rocco / The Brooklyn Rail
01 Nov, 2008
Ron Gorchov鈥檚 painting 鈥淪erapis鈥� looms like a guardian over those who enter the artist鈥檚 current exhibition at Nicholas Robinson Gallery. 鈥淪erapis鈥� is unmistakable as the work of any other painter than Gorchov. At 14 feet in height, it is composed of four of his concave and rounded 鈥渟addle鈥� canvases, slightly scalloped from the bottom up. In form, 鈥淪erapis鈥� recalls Gorchov鈥檚 monumental works of the 鈥�70s, 鈥淪et鈥� and 鈥淓ntrance,鈥� which made similar use of multi-colored monochrome canvases arranged into freestanding totems anchored by cables strung through the backs of their heavy wooden frames.
Serapis was a syncretic Hellenistic-Egyptian god. Syncretism is the practice of melding disparate or contradictory beliefs into a single philosophical system. Gorchov鈥檚 work, which has always blurred the line between sculpture, architecture, and painting, is perfectly represented in this title (which is equally evocative of the artist鈥檚 singular devotion to a visceral and vital painterly method throughout decades often hostile to this preference). What, but a synthesizing mind, could allow for such constancy? This is one of the most striking things about Gorchov鈥檚 work: it combines a gestural expressiveness with an evenhanded cool (and a shaped canvas), elements associated with different, often opposed movements in 20th-century painting. No wonder: Gorchov, a fifty-year veteran of New York, has been around to see these approaches come and go.
Gorchov鈥檚 imagery exudes the earthy scent of antiquity, even as his idiosyncratic supports speak to 21st-century preoccupations. The paintings at Nicholas Robinson are consistent with the imagery the artist has been employing for decades. Gorchov floats two to four loosely painted elements on an atmospheric ground. The forms, when evenly distributed, may evoke the post and lintel structure of classical architecture. Otherwise they recall fragments of bone and pottery or glimpses of landscapes and clouds; it is an imagery deriving strictly from things, not concepts, and in this evokes the work of younger painters such as Chris Martin and Peter Acheson. Each of Gorchov鈥檚 paintings relies for its particular effect on the balance struck between the imagery and the rounded form of the supports.
Other than a quiet (seemingly by choice) decade around the millennium, Gorchov has had frequent exhibitions in New York since the early 鈥�60s, often at excellent venues. Despite some promising attention from recent exhibitions with Vito Schnabel and at P.S. 1, or, more importantly, the increasingly large influence of his work on a generation of painters still in their twenties and thirties, Gorchov鈥檚 level of renown has yet to reach the canonical level. This is likely due to the hybrid style to which he has committed himself. He cannot be shoehorned into a singular movement of 20th-century painting. In other words, the sheer uniqueness of his project has so far prevented his being elevated to the iconic status he deserves. Perhaps it is better so. The full-bodied swaths of time condensed into these paintings should not be flattened into the singular dimension of an icon. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if many artists thought about picking their time,鈥� said Gorchov, in a recent interview in these pages. 鈥淏ut I鈥檇 like it to be now.鈥� Touch茅. Perhaps a new sort of art-historical category shall have to be invented for Ron Gorchov.
Serapis was a syncretic Hellenistic-Egyptian god. Syncretism is the practice of melding disparate or contradictory beliefs into a single philosophical system. Gorchov鈥檚 work, which has always blurred the line between sculpture, architecture, and painting, is perfectly represented in this title (which is equally evocative of the artist鈥檚 singular devotion to a visceral and vital painterly method throughout decades often hostile to this preference). What, but a synthesizing mind, could allow for such constancy? This is one of the most striking things about Gorchov鈥檚 work: it combines a gestural expressiveness with an evenhanded cool (and a shaped canvas), elements associated with different, often opposed movements in 20th-century painting. No wonder: Gorchov, a fifty-year veteran of New York, has been around to see these approaches come and go.
Gorchov鈥檚 imagery exudes the earthy scent of antiquity, even as his idiosyncratic supports speak to 21st-century preoccupations. The paintings at Nicholas Robinson are consistent with the imagery the artist has been employing for decades. Gorchov floats two to four loosely painted elements on an atmospheric ground. The forms, when evenly distributed, may evoke the post and lintel structure of classical architecture. Otherwise they recall fragments of bone and pottery or glimpses of landscapes and clouds; it is an imagery deriving strictly from things, not concepts, and in this evokes the work of younger painters such as Chris Martin and Peter Acheson. Each of Gorchov鈥檚 paintings relies for its particular effect on the balance struck between the imagery and the rounded form of the supports.
Other than a quiet (seemingly by choice) decade around the millennium, Gorchov has had frequent exhibitions in New York since the early 鈥�60s, often at excellent venues. Despite some promising attention from recent exhibitions with Vito Schnabel and at P.S. 1, or, more importantly, the increasingly large influence of his work on a generation of painters still in their twenties and thirties, Gorchov鈥檚 level of renown has yet to reach the canonical level. This is likely due to the hybrid style to which he has committed himself. He cannot be shoehorned into a singular movement of 20th-century painting. In other words, the sheer uniqueness of his project has so far prevented his being elevated to the iconic status he deserves. Perhaps it is better so. The full-bodied swaths of time condensed into these paintings should not be flattened into the singular dimension of an icon. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if many artists thought about picking their time,鈥� said Gorchov, in a recent interview in these pages. 鈥淏ut I鈥檇 like it to be now.鈥� Touch茅. Perhaps a new sort of art-historical category shall have to be invented for Ron Gorchov.
Ron Gorchov, "Mistral," 2008. Oil on canvas, 60 脳 80 脳 13 in. Courtesy of Nicholas Robinson Gallery
