FOR 2-23

CHARLES POLLOCK WORKS ON VIEW AT JASON MCCOY MARCH 8

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NEW YORK CITY — “Charles Pollock (1902–1988): The Chapala Series 1955–1956” will be on view at Jason McCoy Inc March 8–April 21. An opening reception will be Thursday, March 8, 5 to 7 pm.

From 1955 to 1956, Charles Pollock, the older brother of Jackson, lived in Ajijic, a small village in Mexico. About ten years earlier he had abandoned his Social Realist style, inspired by his former teacher Thomas Hart Benton, searching for a new form of artistic expression.

While teaching design, printmaking, calligraphy and typography at Michigan State University (1942–1967), he became increasingly focused on pure form and color relationships. It was in the quietude of Mexico’s Lake Chapala, when surrounded by ancient Mayan land, that he produced a body of work that would lay the groundwork for the art Pollock made from then on.

“The Chapala Series” consist of 30 large drawings and 15 paintings. All of these works are abstract and overtly inspired by calligraphy. They are immediately striking in their handling of light and form, which are employed to create distinct moods of atmospheric merit.

In the paintings, both subtle color nuances and stark contrasts initiate a vibrancy that easily brings the Mexican mountain landscape to mind. Burnt sienna, earth brown and translucent blues, for example, are fused into a harmonious mélange, while shapes reminiscent of simplified hieroglyphic fragments create a mysteriously codified language.

The gallery is at 41 East 57th Street. For more information, 212-319-1996.