Christian Maychack

I found this artist on the NYFA.org website.  He received a 2012 fellowship in painting.  I really appreciate his work.  He has a masterful understanding of materials, composition, and innovation.  Sometimes I am underwhelmed by the art I find being supported by foundations, in this case, the sentiment is just the opposite. Not only is Maychack pioneering pigments and epoxy clay as an artistic medium but he is using them to cleverly explore the nether regions bridging painting and sculpture.  His use of wood is playful yet precise,  using complementary characteristics of the material as a mirror of itself in this piece.  The ‘mirroring’ of the character of wood as both a material for structure and a material for malleable shape-storming is purposeful. It facilitates the negative space that happens inside the frame and the abstract work with epoxy clay that happens outside of it.  The result is that the movement of the piece, the essence of its energy expands in every direction. Left to anchor this unwieldy motion is unfettered  clumps of Cadmium red pigment (or is it Napthol?), and sweet, ethereal light green swirls in the epoxy clay, grounding the viewer, and showering them in vibrant red and green waves.