BLACK BOX THEATER



Arnoff Center for the Arts
650 Walnut Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202

RICK MALLETTE and CEDRIC COX
"Constella Music Festival"
April 15, 2016





RICK MALLETTE

ARTIST STATEMENT
This body of work begins with a spontaneous line drawing that is filled in with black gesso on white gesso. These are finished painting made with gesso, a neutral ground, which is typically covered up by the actual painting. Likewise, I consider these drawings, which is usually preliminary to painting, not the actual art work. I enjoy this underdog quality of drawing and continually seek fresh expression within these limitations, in a sense expanding the vocabulary of drawing.  By limiting the colors to black and white, emphasis is placed on the forms that are discovered in the weave and overlap of a single line. The ultimate effect is a kind of space that flips between figure and ground. Intentionally spatially and conceptually elusive, I point a place of infinite possibilities, found in the interplay of opposites.








INVENTORY
1.   Black and White #1 (2016) Gesso & Marker on Wood. 36 x 36 inches
2.   Black and White #2 (2016) Gesso & Marker on Wood. 36 x 36 inches
3.   Black and White #3 (2016) Gesso & Marker on Wood. 36 x 36 inches
4.   Black and White #4 (2016) Gesso & Marker on Wood. 36 x 36 inches
5.   Black and White #5 (2016) Gesso & Graphite on Wood. 36 x 36 inches




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