Abiding Pulse
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Loretta Howard Gallery, continuing at the forefront of exhibitions of abstractionists who deserve to be known better, is currently showing paintings by Cleve Gray from the mid-1970s.
“These works highlight the artist’s lifelong study of Japanese and Chinese philosophy and art,” explains the gallery. “They allude to similar devices in the scroll paintings of China and Japan. His familiarity with this subject began at Princeton University where he studied Far Eastern Art under George Rowley and wrote his thesis on the landscape painting of the Yuan dynasty.”
Carter Ratcliff continues in the exhibition catalog, “To borrow a phrase from the Chinese discussion of individual styles, Gray is present in his paintings as a hsin-hua—’a heart-print,’ as it is usually translated, which we might understand as the abiding pulse of the artist’s being.”
“Cleve Gray: Contemplation” runs through December 21 at Loretta Howard Gallery, 525-531 West 26th Street, between 10th and 11th avenues, 212-695-0164, lorettahoward.com.
Franklin Einspruch is the art critic for The New York Sun. He blogs at Artblog.net.
