Audra Weaser’s current series of paintings are based on the artist’s memories and experiences in nature, which are reinterpreted as layered abstract paintings. Weaser works intuitively to access visions from her memory, which translate pictorially as abstract paintings with furtive references to landscapes. The paintings read momentarily as dense, mossy landscapes reflecting their hazy mass in water, then the tactile, abstract integrity of the surfaces moves to the fore.

Each painting resonates a distinct emotional pitch, achieved by Weaser’s intuitive process of excavating through layers of specially mixed paint.  Brushstrokes are formed through erasures that vary from bold to finite; color is similarly revealed by sanding through layers of pigment.  Where earlier work focused on more minimal, atmospheric scenes, this current group of paintings brings a pronounced rawness held to the surface of the picture plane. Instead of softly receding to the background, the works contain bold, reaching movements of pigment that dominate entire surfaces.  Flecks of blazing, contrasting color strike through deep, moody grounds in physically labored works.


For this group of new works, and his first solo exhibition in Los Angeles, Eben Goff approaches painting primarily as object making. Viewers encounter the picture plane of the paintings not only as a two dimensional frontal surface, but one encompassing the entire material body.  Alder and birch woods have been shaped into asymmetrical rectangular panels, each with deep, rounded edges.

They differ in size from the hand held to slightly larger than a human torso and employ a range of physical processes as direct as the actions in Richard Serra’s ‘Verb List’:  These objects have been carved, chopped, reversed, layered, fused, shaved, and punctured.

Goff has inscribed an overall feeling of time, labor, and process into these works. They resemble architectural fragments, but here the crisp angularity of the draftsman’s hand has been loosened and softened by wear.  Recalling Lawrence Carroll’s minimal, waxy, box-shaped canvases, but equally reminiscent of the visceral energy in Charles Arnoldi’s early chainsaw paintings, these new works express a love of natural materials and processes in league with both these L.A. artists.

Eben Goff received his Masters in Fine Art from UCLA in 2009.