Known for her elegant paintings and drawings, Hilary Taub will be exhibiting recent figurative works and abstractions at FIG. Taub is a sophisticated painter and draftsman who creates works that are refined, confident, and strikingly beautiful. The artist uses a color palette of subtle earth tones along with painterly atmospheric passages and gracefully drawn lines to develop figures and shapes that seem to continuously emerge, disappear and re-emerge. Her compositions are the result of meticulous observation and disciplined execution, yet remain playful, fresh and spontaneous. Ultimately Taub’s work resonates with the sheer joy of art-making.
Taub writes of her work, “These pieces grew out of a lifetime of figure drawing and a love of abstraction; a joy of pushing paint around a canvas and the appreciation of the elegance of a charcoal line; the beauty of shapes against open space. As I continue to explore the dialog between line and paint, abstraction and figuration; I find myself searching for harmony. Like the world around me, my work has become more complex and chaotic. Yet in the confusion I feel a need to find beauty.
“The process begins as always with a history, an old painting that I use as the ground for the new piece. Some pieces stay with the figurative theme. Working from live models I layer drawings upon drawings noticing how the figures interact and how the formal elements connect. I start painting out areas and adding elements, searching for a combination that suits me. Naturally when there are figures a narrative presents itself; and each viewer brings with them their own interpretation.
“For the abstract pieces I again start with an old painting, this time I cut up the paper. I notice the fragments left on the page. And again I look for the harmony. I add line, color, shape, I paint over and take away elements. In some of these pieces I like the complexity of marks and shapes, other times I feel the need to simplify. Slowly the elements relate to each other and a composition emerges.”
Hilary Taub studied art history at Tufts University and painting at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
For further information, please contact: Jeff Gambill, Director (310) 829-0345.