Art Hag

I happily happened upon the Paul Rodgers/9W gallery's current exhibition of artist Peter Sacks' work this past weekend. Tucked away up on the 9th floor of 529 West 20th Street are a series of gorgeous paintings that incorporate "mountains of paint, fabric, lace, and fishing net" (from Leora Maltz-Leca's Artforum review of the show). Also woven into the large-scale, multi-layered pieces are Sacks' "handwritten transcriptions" of British Royal Naval Officer and explorer, Robert Falcon Scott's (1868-1912) Antarctic journal giving the canvases an added dimension and texture. The rough, bumpy, white and deep blue paintings resemble the cold, icy, unforgiving terrains of the South Pole.

The South African-born Sacks studied art and the history of painting at Oxford, Princeton, and Yale, and has traveled throughout the world, oftentimes by foot. The artist has also written five volumes of poetry. These aspects all figure prominently into the paintings currently on view at Paul Rodgers/9W. "[T]he shifting confluences of poetry and painting... – elements of narrative, music, metaphor or symbol, as well as those of envisioning and evoking rather than depicting – arrive at visual concerns at once bodily, topographical and architectural. One senses the presence of battlegrounds or construction sites of ancient yet contemporary history... His recent paintings challenge our assumptions of what might or might not be human, whether in ourselves, or in the marks we make upon the spaces we inhabit, construct, deform or save" (from the artist's website).

Sacks combines text and texture into his paintings creating intelligent, historical works that invite a closer look and deeper inspection. Once you've cracked their surfaces, you'll find rich narratives within his lush, beautiful abstractions. Learn more at Paulrodgers9w.com and at the artist's website Petersacks.com. Through January 30, 2010.

Necessity 7 (close-up), 2007-2009