GEORGE HOFMANN New Colorful and Gestural Paintings on Linen
George Hofmann Bar Blue Pink 2020 Acrylic on linen, mounted 18 x 24"
The new paintings by George Hofmann are part of a series where he continues to explore color and gestural abstraction, and most recently, a return to linen supports mounted on panel. The panel provides a rigid support throughout the entire series as he wields the palette knife to generously apply large thick passages of pigment. He then excavates portions of the compositions by scraping and wiping away layers of color to reveal abstract areas of under color as well as negative space. The compositions feel fresh and vibrant with the extensive hand work and almost raw surfaces enhanced with overpainting on the excavated areas.
George Hofmann Ghost Fuji 2020 Acrylic on linen, mounted 18 x 24" Click here to view artwork
Having studied during the peak and later years of Abstract Expressionism, then beginning his professional career alongside the explosion of Color Field painting, it is no wonder his work is rooted in bold, strong gestures with swaths and large passages of harmonic hues of color. Creating abstract paintings for over six decades, Hofmann explores color and form using a variety of techniques with saturated hues and dilute glazes of acrylic paint. His preferred supports are canvas, linen and paper. However, recently, Hofmann has been working on smooth wood panels that reveal the grain so that he can build and excavate the paint to fragment his compositions on a natural surface, making them more reductive and a different viewing experience.
George Hofmann Hope and Menace 2020 Acrylic on linen, mounted 18 x 24" Click here to view artwork
About George Hofmann:
George Hofmann was born in Jamaica, NY in 1938. He studied at The High School of Music and Art, New York, NY from 1952 to 1956 with a year (1955) at the Instituto Allende, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. He then studied at Akademie der Bildenden Kuenste, Nuremberg, Germany from 1958 to 1962. After returning to the US, he taught at C. W. Post College, Long Island University and was an Artist in Residence from 1963 to 1966, then at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY from 1967 to 1968 followed by an Instructor in1969 at Yale University Summer School, Norfolk, CT. Most of his career was teaching at Hunter College, NY alongside other illustrious and important faculty, including Sanford Wurmfeld, Robert Swain, Doug Ohlson and Ray Parker, among others. Hofmann is passionate about art history and its influence on his painting and other artist’s works and writes thoughtful and challenging essays on contemporary painting. Hofmann’s artworks are included in the permanent collections of the Albany Institute of History and Art, NY, Boston Public Library, MA, Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA and W. Virginia University, Morgantown, as well as numerous corporate and private collections.
All Artworks Copyright © George Hofmann
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