“Art was the tranquil place where
I always lost myself for hours at a time.”
Veronica Dyer
There is a certain cool detachment in the abstract expressionist
work of Venezuelan born artist Veronica Dyer. Unlike the fire in the
belly energy of Pollock or the dramatic angst of Rothko, Dyer's works have a
contemplative demeanor an almost “stop and smell the roses” vibe. As she says
on her website "Layer by layer,
minute by minute, hour by hour, day after day - with palettes, knife, brushes,
sponges, spatulas, my hands - I uncover thoughts emotions and freedom in my
paintings."
For the last 14 years Dyer has been living the
good life in the sun drenched Texas capital, Houston, and it shows in both her
palette and subject matter. From the warm grays offset by the sun burnt greens
of the verge in A Day of Cycling (see above) to the overall warm rendering of her
portrait of Carlotta (see below).
The inclusion of recognizable portraits in her oeuvre,
of which there are many, further distances Dyer from the abstract expressionists
of the 1950’s and 60’s.
Dyer received her early instruction in painting
from her grandfather, the figurative Italian artist Nerino de Panfilis, at the
age of 13 in Venezuela. And whilst she developed her own freer style, figurative
impulses still often intrude into her work.
As Dyer says “It is the constant progression of a
piece that excites me - the changes, the challenges and the accidents too. From
that comes my enjoyment and fulfillment, seeing and feeling the canvas acquire
its own life, an expression of the intangible coming from all the realms of my
experience.
Dyer’s current exhibition Cement, Screen and Sun,
which includes the use of found objects from construction sites, is on show at
Houston’s Archway Gallery until the
4th of June.
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