Paul Kolker presents Dot Derivatives…The New Abstract at the PAUL KOLKER collection, opening July 17 and running through September 6, 2014. This, Kolker’s forty-third solo show, constitutes another of the artist’s self curated exhibitions testing how we perceive the abstract; and in this instance, those first and second derivatives of his already abstracted ishidots and halftone paintings.
Paul Kolker: anamorphosis…derivatives of the abstract, 2014
inkjet and acrylic on canvas, a fracolor in thirty-two parts, 132 x 264 inches
For this exhibition, Kolker first photographed a selfie of his face, cropped the philtrum, (the midline depression between the upper lip and the nose), and fractionated the cropping into four color halftone phases. The phases were next converted into vector files and vinyl cut stencils were made for each phase. The vinyl masks were serially adhered to a prepared canvas and were painted in acrylic, each layer painted over the other in tints and shades of primary colors. The photograph of the painting, a transformation of Kolker’s philtrum into a halftone dot abstraction, was intentionally distorted once again using either a concave mirror or computer graphics distortion tools. The resultant abstract rendering was converted into color halftone format; four vinyl masks were cut; and a second painting was made using the new vinyl masks. In other paintings, this process was computer graphically repeated once again to test how we see things in sets of abstract paintings hung one next to the other; where each was an intentionally executed derivative of the other; and the painterly gestures of the artist and his assistants were regulated by the computer programmed movements of the plotter-scanner machine cutting the vinyl masks.
Kolker uses derivative in its mathematical sense because computer graphics programs are founded in the calculus, differential equations and the iterative processes of fractal geometry; and Kolker employs both digital methods (a variety of computer graphics fractionating and transforming tools) as well as analog techniques (curved mirror reflections rendering anamorphosis) for his works in this exhibition.
A derivative, as in the calculus of Newtonian mathematics, is based on a trend or rate of change called the slope. Such slopes are formulaically derived from points on curves. Also, a derivative as used in the financial markets is a trend, rate of change or slope of the stock market indices which are plotted as curves. Benoit Mandelbrot first published his new geometry of fractals as a mathematically founded economics tool to plot trends in the stock market and thereby derive orderliness from the chaos of erratic stock market fluctuations. A fractal is a geometric primordial shape which remains unchanged when viewed up close or from afar; like a craggy rock-laden coastline viewed from space or at the water’s edge, the curvilinear but jagged edges of the fractal rock are the same as those of the coastline. Kolker envisions the dot as the fractal of the universe; and that “a dot may be a universe; and a universe may be a dot.” That same dot, representing the pixels in our digital television, computer and smartphone screens, has become iconic in Kolker’s works.
In order to understand, at least the analog component of his distortion process, Kolker has hung a concave polished aluminum mirror to anamorphically distort his abstract ishidot and halftone paintings hung parallel to the mirror on an opposing wall. Anamorphosis is an optical distortion rendered by a curvilinear surface, whether mirror, lens or gaseous atmosphere. The illusory image, a first derivative of the already abstract ishidot painting, hovers as a secant in the concave mirror like an outstretched ghost or mirage; like Mandelbrot’s rock or coastline, depending upon where where you stand.
Paul Kolker: anamorphosis…derivatives of the abstract, 2014, depicted above, speaks to the viewer about the scientific empiricisms of light and color optics and their derivative analog illusions as they have been objectively captured by the digital camera; thereafter transformed by computer graphics into an inkjet and acrylic on canvas abstract rendering to test, albeit subjectively, the viewer’s perception, understanding and evoked feelings.
Paul Kolker (b. 1935) is a New York based artist with doctorate degrees in medicine and law. He is Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Emeritus at North Shore/ LIJ Glen Cove Hospital, having practiced cardiothoracic surgery on Long Island from 1969 to 2013. In October 2001 Kolker moved his Long Island studio to Studio 601, now the PAUL KOLKER collection, in the Chelsea art district so that he could work with other artists to assist him in his art production, much like his physician assistants, residents and fellows have assisted him as a heart surgeon; and also develop his curatorial skills in orchestrating and directing his exhibitions in his own gallery spaces. ‘Dot Derivative…The New Abstract’ is Kolker’s forty-third solo exhibition.