The Integrity of the Picture Plane.

Is this what I keep mentioning as the elusive quality that I chase in paintings of late?

This was a phrase popularized by C. Greenberg, primarily in regards to the flattening of painting that occurred throughout modernism. I read this as an acknowledgement of paintings form as the medium(/meaning?) was being deconstructed: a self awareness.

I have thought of this integrity in terms of a puzzle metaphor. Imagine a puzzle where the lines between the pieces correspond to the gestalt lines of perception. This interlocking is not necessarily constrained to “physical” objects. It also works with “empty” space (a physical object none-the-less).

There is also a notion of “spatial architecture” that I believe arises out of this treating of empty space as a physical object.

The puzzle pieces have a direction implicit in the brushwork that contributes to the overall sense of structure.

I’ve been looking at

William Wray lately…