The other evening, a friend showed me a catalog of paintings of Carole Bolsey. Carole is a friend of hers and my friend wanted to show me the paintings because they reminded her of my acrylic work. Indeed, my friend has an excellent eye! Because, although I have never met Carole, I did see her paintings at the Rose Art Museum (Brandeis University) in the 1980’s – when I was starting to paint and looking hard at how artists applied paint, used colors (or not), and what subjects were “worthy” of painting. Carole’s early work (at least the canvases I saw) were of poles – with shadows – in loosely painted fields. From a distance, only the shape of the pole and its shadow were clear. Up close, there was wonderful painting happening. Just paint. Looking at the catalog of her work, I enjoy seeing how Carole expanded her single pole and shadow to fields, houses (all of which is referred to in “The Shape with no Name” – an essay by Donald Kuspit).
