Elaine Kurtz’ work of the seventies were cool, intellectual geometric abstractions. By the 1990’s with her Alluvial Paintings, she was creating an abstracted, minimalist planet Earth. Formulating her own geology in a time of rapid deforestation she devised her own natural phenomenon: a union of the artist’s eye and the minerals that compose the earth’s crust: ergo a pure composition that balanced the Earth with the artist’s touch. Through unique patterns defined by sand, pebbles, mica and other materials, the Alluvial Paintings series distilled natural phenomena and redefined abstraction.
As Susan Rothenberg wrote in her essay for the catalogue which accompanies the current exhibition, “The expanding scale of texture in Kurtz’ paint medium in the 1970’s and 1980’s -- from paint to pigment and mineral -- adds dimension and grain to the visual. Pursuing paint back to its material origins redefines the modernist search for the essence of medium, redirecting it toward nature and away from the canvas confines.”

Fully illustrated catalogue available.