Review via Two Coats of Paint: Blast of Color: Mink and Dolnick at OUTLET
by Sharon Butler
Lucy Mink, Vacation, 2014, oil and acrylic on canvas, 72 x 60 inches.
“An avalanche of color has no force,” Matisse wrote in 1945. “Color attains its full expression only when it is organized, when it corresponds to the emotional intensity of the artist.” At OUTLET this month, Jason Andrew presents the impressive work of Lucy Mink and Judith Dolnick, painters who seem to live for color, and since I have been exploring color in some of my new projects and paintings, I decided to ask them about their relationship to what is probably the most elusive and complex element in painting.
Judith Dolnick, Untitled (152), 1983, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 18 inches.
Judith Dolnick, Untitled, 2014, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 28 inches.
I asked them four main questions:
Do you have any particular rules you follow when choosing color? Do you mix the colors before you begin or decide and mix as you move through the process?
Is there such a thing as “awkward color”? If yes, what can make color choices and combinations awkward?
Do the colors you choose reference specific objects or experiences outside the painting, or are your color choices all about their relationships to one another within the canvas?How do you respond to the color in each others work?
Here are their insightful responses:
Judith Dolnick:
1. My choice of color is all very intuitive. One color calls for another. Encourages another. Mix as I go. You know, as I move through the painting. I never mix a lot of color all at once. It’s part of search, isn’t it? To discover a painting over time?
What I do like to have prepared is a smooth surface to take the paint. I prefer a smooth surface more than a rough surface. It just feels good on the brush when the paint hits the surface. Almost erotic! And I can do washes: pools of color from which I can play.
An old friend, the painter Michael Dillon, suggested once a long while ago that I should paint on a tinted ground. I tried it and liked it. That’s when I began to play with grounds: blacks, browns and beige. Red on top of black has an entirely different effect, optically, than just red on a plain old canvas. I also liked playing with the transparency–one color peeking through another.
When I went to college we were never allowed to use black. We had to make black by combining colors. Even today I always feel naughty when I use black directly from the tube!
2. It’s not something I think about. I often feel awkward, as a person, when I make these things! But I don’t think that the things in my paintings, including the color, are ever awkward. I imagine for some a color can feel awkward, but only if it doesn’t work in the painting. I guess what might look awkward also depends on who is looking at the painting. Otherwise, isn’t all color beautiful? Why is everyone afraid of making beautiful painting?
3. I don’t consciously think my colors specifically reference objects or experiences. My color choices are more about the colors’ relationships to one another. I don’t really have external influence. But who knows. My husband, the painter Robert Natkin, always denied being influenced by things outside the studio. Then one day, I remember, it was snowing outside and he was making a white painting!
4. Well, I enjoyed seeing Lucy’s paintings very much. More than the color, I liked her use of paint and texture. I was especially interested in her use of space. I can see that she has a solid structure on which, I hope, she will continue to paint for a long as I have!
Originally Published on Two Coats of Paint (June 26, 2015)