Selected Reviews
Building Blocks
Chicago Tribune, November 30, 1995
- Alan Artner
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Building blocks
Andrew Young’s semi-abstractions linking nature and architecture show advances in technique. Andrew Young’s paintings and works on paper, at the Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, have come a long way since his last exhibition in Chicago three years ago. The artist still combines floral motifs with details from architectural interiors. But his forms have become less representational and his color has significantly deepened. Using a vertical format about a foot higher than wide, Young has painted bold semi-abstractions that occasionally suggest the deep space of chapels or cathedrals while they also emphasize the flat decorative patterns of marble and ceramic tiles. All of that he has painted cleanly and smoothly, with a hard edge. But then Young has superimposed billowing ivory forms that evoke lilies attached to the surface of his panels in clouds of thickened paint. The artist works in egg tempera, which is a labor-intensive medium capable of giving extraordinary luminous effects. If he did not fully exploit them in earlier pieces, he comes closer in recent works, which often seem to blaze with contained light. Young has created a sober (but not somber) art that may be symbolic as well, with all its motifs coming together to form personalized memorials that transcend death. The show continues at 325 W. Huron St., through December 30. |
So Many Leaves, 1995
Egg tempera on wood panel, 29.5 x 23 in. |