Wave

Critique:

I must say I like this style of work because it always reminds me of the prejudice I hold for an aesthetic of art as a craft that alludes to the poetical. What I mean by this is when a piece of art can remind me of the beauty and the struggle we all experience in Living Life. For this reason I have chosen to comment on this piece and Miss Werfel's apparent style and I thank her as well!

Wave as a two dimensional assemblage has a Zen like quality if one considers that it constricts the eye to a metaphysics in the idea of the impermanence of the self. This idea which is usually imputed to " Eastern Religion" also has roots in the Platonic notions of ideal forms noted by a universal or cosmic relation to the concept of change. The transference of a cosmic concept of change into a two dimensional format is performed herein by the alliteration of line ,color and shape into a sense of movement where no distinct objectification of figure and ground can impose a narrative that will minimize Dance as a more ancient way in which to express the movement of our bodies. This work alludes to a body but one lost in a movement of ecstasy in which the tension between self and ego disappears. There is a definite interplay between form as shape, color and presence as a mere physical experience of what our physical eye is used to seeing in other words form as immediate present and static or "known" and then its poised and interspersion with a more subtle presence of form prior to its three dimensional attributes.

In side every atom is an electrical field . In a dance the physicality of language to objectify space for a moment in time and space becomes nullified by movement being released into the electrical field of perhaps a fourth dimension always available to one who senses it. Is this representation evocative of the dance of Life its agony and ecstasy inside and outside our beings as a consciousness in contradiction?

More pointedly is this assemblage a beautiful representation of Jacobs ladder, or our existence as also what manifests for our species as a profound disconnect between heaven and earth?

Werfel's dazzling abstractions convey a sense of lively vibrancy that instinctively takes the gaze to dance on the canvas, while retracing the artist’ movements and gestures in making it. 

Showing similarities to great masters of abstraction as Joan Mitchell, Gina Werfel's distinctively physical approach to painting let the forms and shapes to emerge and manifest themselves from the signs and chromatic atmosphere created by the colors in moving on the canvas. 

There’s clearly a certain level of improvisation closer to music, in this kind of compositions, but also a need to contain and control the effects that the color masses can offer, through the layering, and the contrast between the stenciled and hand-drawn marks she will later apply on the canvas. 

Those signs and marks work as accents or commas, that establish some firm point where the viewer’ gaze can stop, while going over the canvas and dancing on it without getting trapped in the color vortices. 

In this way, the  artist explores the world of color and signs through restless experimentation, which always preserve  a precise sense of aesthetic balance. 

It’s quite clear that Gina Warfel has no interest in establishing any specific subjects or can determine a specific reading of  the work: the main center of all her practice is the gesture of the color masses, and the narrative moments that can differently spark on the canvas for the viewer, while reacting with his memories. 

Warfel paintings,  as most of the classical  music, work through allusions and chromatic sensations that tickle the senses, without guiding them to any univoque response. 

Hi John,
Thanks for your perceptive reading of the reduced palette in Wave.

Impenetrable but not opaque, Gina Werfel’s Wave is a swirling, dripping, and dancing abstract expressionist painting told in neutral but alluring colors. Washes of whites, beiges, greys, and light blues are balanced and enhanced by a few thin passages of rich reds and greens. Without Werfel's immense skill as a painter and her extensive understanding of color theory, the composition would be bland and dull, a mess of uninspiring hues melting into each other. However, Werfel knows her way around a brush and canvas too well for anything she creates to culminate in boredom. When I say Werfel understands color theory, it does not necessarily refer to the actual academic theory of color that dates to antiquity (I imagine she has studied this theory, but, regardless, she understands it far better than most who have), but that she understands what colors work together and what do not. Whether one follows the precepts of color theory, one cannot become a successful painter without this instinct. For evidence of Werfel's painterly instinct, look no further than Wave.