Jef Bourgeau

"Color of Sky 7-594" Blue, Mixed Media, Conceptual Art

1992-1993

SALE ONE WEEK ONLY "Untitled" by Nicholas Bodde depicts vibrant layers of color on narrow aluminum strips. These pieces are interchangeable and can be hung in various ways. Each is signed on the verso and was created in 2013. All three are sold as a set. Each aluminum panel measures 39 " h x 2.5" w. Bodde was born in New York he lives and works in Germany. He considers himself a German painter, who uses lacquered aluminum to create works that are beautiful in their simplicity and in their joyful exploration of color. The artist drives upon the tradition of European constructivism as well as Colour Field Painting, noting influences by Mark Rothko and Barnett Newmann. Bodde claims that his paintings “reveal themselves differently from close up and from a distance. When viewed from a distance they clearly appear related to constructivist geometric tendencies. But from close proximity, one notices that my main objective is painting and not construction.” The artist has reduced his subject to parallel vertical or horizontal lines and fields that race across the hard surface in a controlled riot – as if the viewer were looking out of a fast moving car while driving by fields of colorful flowers. Bodde constantly questions the colors, focusing on creating a construction through using different colors. He sees his creations as a mode of communication with the world. He paints on aluminum plates by successive coats of painting that he applies with different utensils to finally obtain a result that imprints itself into the eye’s retina. The game of colorful stripes, more or less large, sometimes with the feeling of the brush, sometimes flat, reflects the light differently on each lap. The brightness of his palette, a willful choice, accentuates the vitality that emanates from this painting. His works hesitate between the vibrating and nearly irritating colors and the calm of a monastic construction.   Bodde received his formal education from the University of Arts in Bremen (1989) and has been exhibited in numerous solo and group shows across the world, including venues such as the Yeh Gallery in Seoul, Planet Art...

"Geostructure IX" is an intensely colorful painting of the primary shapes of the circle, square, and triangle. Though the shapes are repetitive their mixed juxtapositions and the creative use of color moves the eye around the canvas with constant interest. This painting is an extraordinary example of Franklin Jonas...