Puzzle (RR) extra large painting

181209 PuzzleBy RRWatercolor on Styrofoam197060 x 48″, 153 x 122 cm $3750 Puzzle is an enormous hard-edge abstract painting originally purchased from the South of France. The eye-catching painting features a number of brightly colored, angular geometric shapes interlocked to form a stunning, puzzle-like design. Puzzle is painted on polystyrene, a support that is rarely seen in painting, and has been backed with board. While the artist has yet to be identified, a signature that consists of a monogram that reads RR and the date 1971 is visible in the painting’s top right-hand corner. The painting comes in a subtle, nearly imperceptible modern frame. Puzzle’s large size and interwoven patches of color make it evocative of a large abstract tapestry rather than a painting. With its clear, sharp edges—the result of the careful application of paint—Puzzle appears a French example of “hard-edge abstraction.” Hard-edge painting was in part a response to more painterly or gestural forms of Abstract expressionism, which was largely cultivated in New York City the decade prior. The term was first coined by Californian art critic Jules Langsner in reference to a Californian exhibition that included Karl Benjamin, John McLaughlin, Frederick Hammersley and Lorser Feitelson, four West coast painters active during the mid twentieth century. The exhibition, Four Abstract Classicists, would also travel to England and Ireland with the subtitle California Hard-Edge. Puzzle appears to be inspired by West Coast hard-edge painting; each piece of Puzzle retains its discrete edges as angular shapes made of various disparate colors—such as deep red, soft yellow, lilac, and bright orange—seem effortlessly intertwined. Puzzle’s polystyrene support might play a role in impeding the colors from bleeding into one another. Unlike more conventional supports such as canvas or wood, polystyrene’s porous surface allows the paint to seep into it. The result is a rather flat, but textured surface that has absorbed traces of brushwork done by an individual human hand. Additionally, the painter appears to have carved small, fine grooves delineating each shape into the polystyrene to further prevent the colors from accidental overlap. Puzzle, with its massive size and elegant geometric design, is a work that would look stunning as a showpiece on a large white wall. Handling, packing, shipping, or pick up from Berkeley CA 94710 Check my collection at albencol