Art Talk
Ed Moses and Andy Moses
Father and son painters on view at UC Irvine, Ernie Wolfe and William Turner Gallery.
By Hunter Drohojowska-Philp • • 3m ListenEd Moses,"NY Trac," 1974
Acrylic and tissue on nylon
Courtesy of the artist
Ed Moses may be 88 but he shows no signs of slowing down. Ed Moses:Cross Section, a survey of work from 1970 to now organized by painter Kevin Appel and gallery director Juli Carson at UC Irvine's Claire Trevor School of the Arts offers an opportunity to see themes of consistency and innovation over nearly half a century. (Moses used to teach at UCI in the '70s.) The show closes this Saturday, December 13.
Ed Moses, "Puty," 2006
Acrylic on canvas
Courtesy of the artist
Moses has long practiced Tibetan Buddhism in a way that allows him to paint every day, embracing the process as a flow of ideas and imagery and then picking the best of his output to survive. Others are repainted and recycled.
Ed Moses, "The Red One," 1976
Acrylic on canvas
Courtesy of the Jill and Duane Meltzer
As such, he is unafraid of new materials and techniques and most recently has been painting on mirrored surfaces, work that is now installed, Cujo, at Ernie Wolfe Gallery open only on Saturdays, through end of January. My KCRW colleague Edward Goldman mentioned it last week but I want to reiterate that it is really worth a visit. I also wrote about this exciting work in Art and Antiques.
Andy Moses, “Morphology 1205,” 2014
Acrylic on panel
Courtesy of the William Turner Gallery
It can't be easy being an artist who is also the son of an artist but Andy Moses has developed his own completely separate identity and style. After many years in New York, he moved back to LA and since then has perfected a method of painting the colors and conditions of sea and sky, both operating out of the atmospheric effects that have long influenced artists in Southern California.
Andy Moses, “R.A.D. 1001,” 2014
Acrylic on lucite mounted on concave wood panel
Courtesy of the William Turner Gallery
Some of his most recent paintings are done on wave-sized concave surfaces. R.A.D. 1001 is mounted high on the wall with a top-most curve that emulates the feeling of being slightly beneath a massive curl. In many paintings, swirling patterns of blue and silver, gold and green appear to retain as well as reflect light. With no horizon line to establish perspective, they operate as pure fields of luscious color. The show at William Turner Gallery continues to January 10, 2015.