John Guthrie, ‘Absolute Abstraction’ at Goldman
![](http://gregcookland.com/journal/uploaded_images/picGuthrieSiri-729310.jpg)
“Absolute Abstraction,” which closes at Judy Ann Goldman on Newbury Street tomorrow, is a four-person exhibit of bright, charming contemporary abstract painting that reflects the current trend of kinder, gentler minimalism.
The standout is John Guthrie of Boston. Two insistent 2006 acrylic abstractions, “Siri” (at top) and “Vega” (below), feature four-pointed stars with their points nestled in the square canvases’ corners. The stars are patterned with webs of radiating crisscrossing lines, like nets or the elegant interwoven lines of a Spyrograph design. The effect is an optical illusion in which the center and the sides of the canvas seem to bow outward, as if straining to contain some force inside.
![](http://gregcookland.com/journal/uploaded_images/picGuthrieVega-779841.jpg)
These compositions recall mid-20th century modern designs – that flat, sleek, cheery, optimistic “Right Stuff” futuristic abstraction. In particular, they echo 1960s Frank Stella – if Stella (a Malden native by the way) wasn’t such a cold, dull bastard. Where Stella designs leech out energy like black holes, Guthrie pumps it up with hot color combos.
The flat abstract 2005 paintings that he showed at Goldman last year, which looked like diagrams for candy boxes or maybe 1980s video game screens, were also groovy.
![](http://gregcookland.com/journal/uploaded_images/picHernandezHisbiscus06-725580.jpg)
![](http://gregcookland.com/journal/uploaded_images/picKelleySeemsSeams-725517.jpg)
There are also paintings by New Yorker Carrie Moyer.
“Absolute Abstraction,” Judy Ann Goldman Fine Art, 14 Newbury St., Boston, March 15 to April 14, 2007.
Extra credit: Compare and contrast “Absolute Abstraction” with DeCordova’s “Big Bang” and Genovese/Sullivan’s “Other Abstraction.”
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