LANDON METZ
New Yorker Landon Metz is renowned for his inky abstract shapes and watery colours with spasmodic perimeters. There is something inexplicably emotional in their free forms; sparse and disconnected, they are lyrical in graphic dialogue.
Moving away from this softness in his recent show at James Fuentes Gallery, New York, Metz’s new works are powerfully audacious. Owning the space, organic shapes in dense navy, like immersive markers, activate the room, so that the wall surfaces are the canvas.
The process of the artwork for Metz is in part about the experience, as Metz puts it “I’m really acknowledging the viewing experience as part of the creative process,……..thinking about how that idea upends the traditional roles of artist and audience.” Metz points out that although it was made in response to the space, it is site-dependent rather than specific. The work is reliant on ample white space to ground it, but although conceptualized for the gallery is not limited to it.
The shapes are familiar to Metz’s style, immediately recognisable in their character, only now he is outgrowing the confines of a traditional canvas. Part of the beauty of art is watching how the artist grows. Landon Metz is only at the beginning of a very fruitful calling – we cherish the history and look forward to all that is still to come.
Credits: Landon Metz
