Ellen Salk | New Paintings

Quint Contemporary Art is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition of new work by Ellen Salk from her “Tantra” series.

While the show includes several of Salk’s brightly colored compositions, the main exhibition space features all white paintings. In response to this marked and conscious change in palette, the artist states that she “loves white paintings and the challenges they present” in terms of creating a stimulating visual experience with a limited range of hues. The reduction in color, however, is more than balanced by the variety of media employed. In addition to the more traditional oil and acrylic paint, Salk incorporates wax, Xerox transfers, and collages into her works to impart textural complexity.

To further draw out the subtle divergences between tones of white, Salk grafts small patches of color into the surfaces of her pieces. Several motifs, such as red teardrops or green boxes, appear on different canvases so as to unify the entire installation. Images that illustrate tantric diagrams of the body or recall Indian mandalas are also tucked between layers of paint. If the viewer can muster the patience to thoroughly explore these fields, the act of looking begins to resemble an archaeological excavation. As we dig through her paintings, we uncover the numerous signs that Salk has placed in our path which simultaneously surprise and mystify.