George Hofmann “More Than A Feeling”

David Richard Gallery

[Image: George Hofmann "Breaking Joy" (2008) Acrylic on linen 67 x 48 in.]

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David Richard Gallery presents “More Than A Feeling,” a solo exhibition of recent paintings by New York-based artist George Hofmann and his debut presentation with the Gallery. The presentation includes 12 paintings created during 2008 through 2010 that range in size from 40 x 32 inches and up to 70 x 90 inches. The abstract compositions fill the canvases from edge-to-edge with sweeping passages of harmonic and nuanced color palettes, while the titles reference landscapes, the sea, clouds and light. The viewer’s contemplation of the imagery is provoked by such titles.

Hofmann’s paintings reference nature, earth elements and contemplative moments from his personal life. However, his work has evolved more out of emotion and less from his classical and analytical art training. Hofmann uses his gut reaction to making decisions about color selections, painting surfaces and methods of applying pigment to supports. In that regard, he sees his work as more ideological and being true to himself and his emotions rather than what is popular at any moment in time. His application of paint by a variety of methods, including staining, brushing, layering and overpainting is thus soulful, creating an experience of the world he sees and moments he has lived, rather than a detailed picture or actual image.

Having studied during the peak and later years of Abstract Expressionism, then beginning his professional career alongside the explosion of Color Field painting, it is no wonder his work is rooted in bold, strong gestures with swaths and large passages of harmonic hues of color. Creating abstract paintings for over six decades, Hofmann explores color and form using a variety of techniques with saturated hues and dilute glazes of acrylic paint. His preferred supports are canvas, linen and paper. However, recently, Hofmann has been working on smooth wood panels that reveal the grain so that he can build and excavate the paint to fragment his compositions on a natural surface, making them more reductive and a different viewing experience.

George Hofmann was born in Jamaica, NY in 1938. He studied at The High School of Music and Art, New York, NY from 1952 to 1956 with a year (1955) at the Instituto Allende, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. He then studied at Akademie der Bildenden Kuenste, Nuremberg, Germany from 1958 to 1962. After returning to the US, he taught at C. W. Post College, Long Island University and was an Artist in Residence from 1963 to 1966, then at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY from 1967 to 1968 followed by an Instructor in1969 at Yale University Summer School, Norfolk, CT. Most of his career was teaching at Hunter College, NY alongside other illustrious and important faculty, including Sanford Wurmfeld, Robert Swain, Doug Ohlson and Ray Parker, among others. Hofmann is passionate about art history and its influence on his painting and other artist’s works and writes thoughtful and challenging essays on contemporary painting. Hofmann’s artworks are included in the permanent collections of the Albany Institute of History and Art, NY, Boston Public Library, MA, Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA and W. Virginia University, Morgantown, as well as numerous corporate and private collections.