London, Vilma Gold, Joseph Stau and R. H. Quaytman, 11 December 2007-25 January 2008
Catalogue Essay
‘I want to make paintings that can be read on their own terms, without footnotes. But if, as a viewer, you persist in asking questions, you’ll find answers.’ – R.H. Quaytman
The paintings of American artist R.H. Quaytman are cohesive narratives, which she describes as ‘systems.’ The formal ‘sentences’ which the artist constructs are referenced in the titles of the work. For Chapter 12 iamb (Checkers), Quaytman was inspired by the iambic pentameter of John Milton’s 1667 epic poem Paradise Lost. Quaytman comments that she ‘realized that the sound of the word iamb made it seem right for the title. I love words that have more than one meaning or association.’ (R.H. Quaytman interviewed by S. Stillman, Art in America, 1 June 2010).
The present lot creates a hypnotising graphic arena, making reference to the geometric, illusionary Op-Art of the 1960s. Quaytman situates the optical play in her work as reflective of the way in which artworks at large are viewed: ‘I began to think of paintings as objects that you passed by—as things that you saw not just head-on and isolated, but from the side, with your peripheral vision, and in the context of other paintings.’ (Ibid.) The image’s mesmeric visual rhythm mimics the metrical power of its poetic referent, and forms a confounding surface that hints at the unknowable or sublime.