Guy Lyman

Primary Forms #13, 2011
Enamel,Wax,Tar,Oil Paint,Acrylic Paint
20 x 16 in
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I did this series of painting with these simple forms having very complex surfaces a few years ago. I sold them, but kept a couple back, including this one. These counterpose the simplest possible forms, in the case circles, with very complicated surfaces combining wax, oil paints, enamel and acrylic. They give the surface a sort of weathered appearance, with things covered up and floating up out of the negative space. I have loved creating interesting surfaces such as this since the early days of my painting. I can remember how weathered old walls in New Orleans inspired me back then. Comes in a high-profile float frame.


I have been painting for about 30 years, since before I was a dealer. I always was and remain most drawn to so-called “painterly” painters, whose interest is less in the formal aspects of painting than in the paint itself, and signs of the artist’s hand in its application. Initially I was drawn to paintings from the magical period between New York Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art, by artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Jim Dine and Cy Twombly. In the Eighties, it was New York neo-Expressionists such as Julian Schnabel, Terry Winters and Donald Baechler. As you can see, in the past few years my paintings have become more formal, but you can still see a lot of the hand in them. I grew up in New Orleans, lived in various places in the U.S. and Europe, then returned to "the Big Easy" to open my Magazine Street gallery, which I sold in 2017 before moving my art business entirely online. I still enjoy meeting fellow art collectors and painters when they visit New Orleans.