A series of immersive, abstract canvases that investigate the presence and presentation of color and form constitute Cornelia Thomsen: Stripe Paintings, an exhibition at Erik Thomsen Gallery from October 14 – November 23, 2011. 

In working with stripes, Thomsen continues explorations of the subject by Agnes Martin, Antonio Calderara, Blinky Palermo, Barnet Newman, and other modern and post-modern artists.  Thomsen takes as her departure point the bands of color and movement seen at the shore as the sky, ocean, and sand come together, then tilts them on their side to minimize the connection to the observed world.  Rather than adhering to a uniformity of widths and paint handling, Thomsen’s stripes range from a millimeter to two centimeters.  The individual stripes can be smooth and homogenous or can express subtle gradations that give some of the stripes a seemingly outward or inward cylindrical curve.  Thomsen’s paintings evoke not a geometric regularity but the capricious and random arrangements of nature, however imperfectly captured.  In her work, the entire surface progression of stacked, abutting stripes is engaged by projecting and receding.  What results is a dialogue of vertical stripes, one that both overwhelms the eye—overtaxing the ability to consolidate—and conducts it.

Her paintings challenge us to absorb areas of oppressive flatness and the amplitude that her paint on canvas allows.  The paintings invite us to linger, to look at the stripes, to look purely at and experience color and become drawn into them. They are a world unto themselves. 

For more information about Cornelia Thomsen and her art, please visit www.corneliathomsen.com.  

Cornelia Thomsen: Stripe Paintings is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue with an essay by Christian Janecke, professor of art history at the University of Art and Design Offenbach, Germany.  A .pdf of the catalogue may be found at www.erikthomsen.com.