98ten Fine Art is proud to present Abstraction and Landscape, a group show that highlights various provocative methods of abstract forms alongside landscape art that incorporates elements of minimalism and layers of surprising techniques. Artists included in the exhibition are Joshua Aster, Samantha Fields, Alison Foshee, Amber George, Karen Herold, Brian Hollister, Andy Kolar, David McDonald, Doug Meyer, Tim Nolan, Steve Schmidt, Natasha Shoro, Luke Whitlatch, Richard Wilson, and Andre Yi.

Collectively this exhibition will explore artists whose distinct approaches to abstraction are presented in the exploration of materials, shapes, and various other formal considerations. For instance, Aster’s compositions seem quite random yet also deliberate, and it is this perfect balance that completes the order in his work and lends a mathematical harmony to his canvas.  Herold’s non-objective works are a reflection of the California Light and Space artists. However, her works also closely relate to pattern and gesture painting, creating an overall ethereal quality. Hollister’s work has references to the southern California desert landscape, making the light of the desert the key to his work.  Like Herold, Hollister’s canvases are both textured and luminous; yet, his works seem to dance subtlety between representation and abstraction.  Kolar, on the other, explores flatness in abstraction. The large, bold shapes dominate his canvases yet his painterly treatment of lines is spiritual and moving. Schmidt uses modernist grids as his bases of exploration, but goes beyond the formalism that has often defined reductive geometric art. The formalism in his works gives way to exposing the dualistic qualities of the manmade and nature. 

Pairing with the abstractionists are artists, Foshee, George, Fields, Whitlatch, and Yi, who blur the boundaries of abstraction and landscape. Foshee’s collage-paintings are a mix of office materials such as pins, stickers, tape, and traditional media on monochromatic backgrounds. While her canvases capture the interest of viewers through a multi-layered experience, there lies a floating element of landscape and a deeper sense of illusion. Whitlatch explores gestural compositions on shaped canvases with depths ranging as much as 7 inches. Employing unique, unconventional canvases, Whitlatch is able to break up the landscape with almost totem-like shapes. These paintings are, in essence, comprised of three painted surfaces whose interaction break away from the traditional forms of painting, and further serve as an architectural body. On the other hand, Yi draws and paints on fields of expansive and subdued colors, often mirroring elements of minimalism and architectural rendering. Yet, he resolves in creating a powerful shift to landscape with gestural brush strokes and light circular movement that might suggest gravity and air.