Riding the Light
Ari Lankin

Riding the Light is a solo exhibition of large abstract works by Ari Lankin.

“I find it fascinating that an image, specifically a painting, has the ability to stimulate many levels of the human psyche,” writes Lankin. “A painting is an object and at the same time a window into another world. The long history of painting has proven that the imagery and consideration of materials is as varied as the people who paint. This excites me. To me, great painting is not a particular genre or type of image. The truly great painters like Rembrandt, Mondrian and Guston achieved a level of oneness with imagery and material that is impossible to put into words. It is this feeling of a complete merger of material and imagery that I strive for when I create a painting. I am inspired by nature and the figure  the effect of one or more materials upon another, patterns and systems, evolution out of necessity. Also, the element of chance both in nature and the studio but once it comes down to the act of painting, paint and the paradoxical nature of the picture plane are my two primary inspirations. The physicality, texture and residue of experience of paint enable infinite tactile and visual explorations. Some marks are absolutely deliberate and others by chance. When material and imagery merge seamlessly into a oneness that both eliminates and solidifies the picture plane is when I consider a painting finished. It’s alive. Without explicit references to observable objects there is truly a universal aspect to the work that hopefully unlocks a poetic experience for the viewer that expands the longer one looks. I hope my paintings enable people to experience and discuss the observable and non-observable forces in the universe and mankind with innate truthfulness. They are an antidote for the toxicity of misinformation in the modern zeitgeist.” — Ari Lankin