American

‘The Color Prophecies’ is a new series begun in September, 2016 and in it I am exploring where color predicts and dictates certain interactions. For the creation and design of these images I am painting solid color mixtures on woodblock papers to use for backgrounds and various planar elements with isolated figural elements from my photographs. These mixed media collages function as the studies for my paintings.

I have been working with the premise of creating paintings with specific color palettes for many years. For me, it is a working process that is endlessly fascinating. I was never interested in attacking the blank canvas or putting down one mark and seeing where that led me. Of course this is a subject that has been written about with many variations. The practice of orchestrating the colors in a painting to register in a particular key is my approach.

The move upstate in 2005, after living in New York City for 30 years gave me a sense of new beginnings. I began to incorporate elements of my upstate surroundings and the architectural details of our historic property with images in my collage studies for paintings. This led to an ongoing exploration of figure and ground and the architecture of figuration.

In all of my paintings, I have sought color mastery and color is the subject of my work. Both Josef Albers and Charles W. Hawthorne were obsessed with creating the illusion of transparency in the opaque medium of oil paint. Both their teachings and their daily practice continue to inspire me today.

Ginnie Gardiner is a New York artist who has shown in numerous solo and group exhibits for 35 years. Gardiner graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1974. In 2005, she and her husband, artist and writer Jon Phillips, moved upstate from New York City to Catskill, New York, where they renovated and restored the former Lyceum, a Federal-era building located in this historic village.

ginniegardiner.com