John Grillo at Katharina Rich Perlow
Art in America, Jan, 2005 by Jonathan Goodman
The legacy of Abstract Expressionism is complicated. While its groundbreaking phase goes back to the 1940s and early '50s, later generations of artists have continued to paint gesturally, acknowledging but not necessarily submitting to the outstanding painters who preceded them. It is a good thing that 87-year-old John Grillo has not been lost to memory, for his recent show of paintings and collages, from the 1950s and '60s, demonstrated a rich palette, a command of color, and the exuberant energy of someone in tune with the powerful artistic rhythms of his time.
Grillo studied with Hans Hofmann in 1947, making watercolors. Later, however, he turned to oil on canvas; his palette became lighter, with an emphasis on yellows. In fact, when Donald Judd reviewed a 1961 Grillo exhibition, he noted that "all the paintings in this show are yellow and have the splendor of sunlight." Yellow dominated this recent show as well. Some of the larger paintings, such as an untitled work from 1963 (80 by 140 inches), offered viewers the chance to experience this color as a nearly cosmic entity. This painting consists of circles and diamond shapes interspersed throughout the composition. A number of the geometric forms possess halos of white paint, while the golden background shimmers, highlighting the dance of the shapes.
The influence of Hofmann can be seen in a 32-by-28-inch untitled oil from 1954, in which a number of rectangles play off each other, illustrating Hofmann's push-pull principle. There is a rough red square in the center of the painting, surrounded by other right-angled forms that are primarily black (in the lower left corner) and yellow in color. The effect is that of a palimpsest, with shapes topping each other and creating a complicated effect. Tying the upper part of the painting to the lower is a curving yellow band, which encompasses the red mass in the middle. With its give-and-take of form and color, this accomplished work is deeply satisfying.
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