Studio Visit with PAUL PAGK

Paul Pagk, 2015, 70 x 70 inches, oil on linen

My sincere thanks to Paul Pagk for a wonderful visit to his Tribeca studio to see a group of magnificent new paintings, and snoop around his rich environment. It was great to see works in progress, and get a close look at his sumptuous oil surfaces. It was also nice to see a wealth of small paintings and drawings scattered around the studio. Paul makes his own paint with ground pigments to achieve extraordinarily nuanced color. The entire space and its contents reflect Paul's relentless visual, intellectual and intuitive explorations - probing painting's endless possibilities.

Paul Pagk, 2015, oil on linen

Paul Pagk, 2015, oil on linen 

Paul Pagk, 2015, oil on linen (detail) 

Paul Pagk, 2015, oil on linen (detail) 

Paul Pagk, 2015, oil on linen (detail)

Paul Pagk studio

Paul Pagk studio 

Paul Pagk studio

Gonçalo Ivo, Paul Pagk, Denise Ivo

PAUL PAGK

Paul Pagk, Here, over and around about, 2001-04, 65 x 74 inches, oil on linen

I've been intending to do a more extensive post on Paul Pagk's paintings for a while, but being quite busy lately, must settle for this brief glimpse and hope to revisit later. Pagk is a British painter now living in Brooklyn, who explores linear configurations set into intense color fields. The configurations are usually diagrammatic and sometimes evoke architectural references, but are ultimately highly intuitive interactions with the rectangle -- mental and physical streams in a constant pictorial balancing act. The surfaces, often infused with wonderfully acidic color, are worked and revised in layers to achieve a chunky richness. There is an interview and studio visit with Pagk here.