Milton Resnick, Installation View 2011The title of the exhibition of Milton Resnick paintings at Cheim & Read (through October 29) is The Elephant in the Room, which resonates in layers with the selection of powerful encrusted paintings from the 1960s to the 1980s. It speaks to Resnick's deep commitment to an existential engagement with his process as an elemental endeavor. It speaks to a sense that Resnick's determination to push his work to the limit of its essence tends to make most other approaches to painting seem like peripheral chatter. These works are monsters of raw will -- the artist giving himself over to his materials, his process, and to the most primal depths of the painting language to create massive presences that are as radical as they are beautiful. They are embodiments of a kind of dogged integrity that is rarely spoken of these days, and even more rarely achieved.
Milton Resnick, Installation View 2011
Milton Resnick, EDNA V, 1973, 83 x 48 inches, oil on canvas
Milton Resnick, STRAWS, 1982, 80 x 60 inches, oil on canvas
Milton Resnick, STRAWS (Detail)
