I
paint within the conventions of non-objective art using circles,
squares, rectangles and trapezoids to improvise in the spirit
of the many different kinds of music and dance that I enjoy.
Using these forms, colors and lines, I aim to stimulate sensations
of movement, rhythm and harmony. I like to make color and
shape interact in the same way that sounds and rhythms interact
in a musical composition. Fast, slow, bouyant, lyrical or
discordant - it's an intuitive pursuit.
As Hilda Rebay, the accomplished and
influential painter, wrote, "Non-objectivity is intuition
made audible and visual." I try to put into my paintings
the spirit that moves me, from pieces like a merengue, the
waltz from Der Rosenkavalier, anything by Charlie
Parker, J.S. Bach, or Francis Poulenc. Geometric shapes give
me the means to do this because they are like musical notes
- without reference to anything other than what they are.
I work on sheets of
canvas and paper spread on the floor - splashing, pouring,
scraping, burying, and drawing without any plan in the beginning.
An image begins to reveal itself and I paint it - moving
back and forth from the floor to the table.
The collages are inspired by the accidental
drips and splashes on my drop cloths and paint rags. The bits
of graphics make a counterpoint to the torn cloth.
The artists I like to
look at are Malevich, Kandinsky, Mondrian and the non-objective
painters. Chinese calligraphy appeals to me too.
I studied with Josef Albers at Yale, where I was awarded the Bruce Rogers Scholarship
in graphics, and later with Richard Pousette-Dart, Leo Manzo and Bruce Dorfman
at the Art Student's League. I worked with I.M. Pei and Partners, Architects
and currently in my own design firm.
New York State Council on the Arts, Curator and Exhibition Designer
Bruce Rogers Award, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
My paintings
are in public and private collections in Tokyo, Stockholm,
Montreal and around the U,S. They can be seen at the Four
Seasons Restaurant in New York City.
Please read
the review of my show at the Atlantic Galllery by Partho Dutta, October 2006
nkearing@optonline.net
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