Linda Touby “Sidney’s Door Series”

Bill Hodges Gallery

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Bill Hodges Gallery presents the exhibition Sidney’s Door Series. The solo exhibition by Linda Touby will mark the 13th exhibition in our Chelsea location as well as the denouement showing in the space.

Linda Touby is exhibiting her 5th solo show at the gallery, as well as musing the gallery’s production of three solo exhibition catalogues over the years. She is an accomplished abstract contemporary painter. In this, her most recent series titled Sidney’s Door features paintings all completed within the last few years. This is atypical for the gallery; showing such recently created material. Line work plays a connective part in compensation of the robust color associated with Touby’s non-objective abstract paintings. These new paintings, with their white washed exteriors, defy spatial expanse and connect the viewer to its nature. Each piece begins quite busily and is edited down for simplicity and support of its definite major purpose. Micro- and macroscopic extremities of line, texture and weight are explored in this series.

In this important series of abstract expressionistic large-scale paintings, we see homage to sculptor, teacher and art writer Sidney Geist (1914-2005), as well as inspiration drawn by Pablo Picasso and Pierre Soulages. Touby was Sidney Geist’s studio neighbor for over 20 years and upon his passing in 2005, drew inspiration from his massive calming white door, which separated his energetic, and colorful sculptures from the world. Geist is gone, and his door now permanently closed, yet Touby’s paintings feel open and full of possibility.

The inception of this series can be dated as early as 2009-10 during a Parisian exhibition at the US Embassy, where Touby arrived late, to an overwhelmingly cheering crowd. A pinnacle moment in a career that has ebbed and flowed along the river of greatness. On this trip, she visited the Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou featuring a retrospective of Pierre Soulages and his Outre Noir Series; large scale paintings since 2007, created entirely using black paint. Touby felt moved by the texture and enormity of the canvas placed back-to-back and massive in scale. It was there that the seed was planted! The importance of a painter like Touby explore the subconscious realm that a monochromatic series could express was absolutely vital to the evolution of Touby’s artistic expression. Color theory is essential to her process, yet the removal, covering and layering of color, informs so much of her ever-evolving process.