Gabriel Hartley's "Cinnabar" features a textured surface with a rich interplay of dusty reds and subtle grays, punctuated by organic, elemental shapes that suggest movement and depth. The work lacks identifiable subject matter, relying instead on abstract forms and vibrant color contrasts. The style is rooted in early Modernism, utilizing impasto techniques for a tactile quality reminiscent of Jean Fautrier. Hartley's painting explores the duality of flatness and depth, blending two and three-dimensionality to capture figures that are simultaneously emerging and eroding, reflecting his fascination with the tension between creation and deconstruction. ...
Gabriel Hartley’s work combines optical effects and iconic markings on highly textured surfaces. His work summons early Modernism’s play with abstraction and perspective. With bold linear brushstrokes and organic, elemental shapes, Hartley’s forms play with space and movement.
His painterly effects – generated through a mix of gloss and matte paint – convey both a flatness and a depth that produce a palpable sense of tension. The dusty quality of Hartley’s impasto surfaces recall the paintings of School of Paris artist Jean Fautrier.
Hartley fuses seemingly opposing elements: the painterly and the photographic, flatness and depth, and two and three dimensionality. He simultaneously constructs and excavates – building subjects and unraveling them – to create figures at once formative and timeworn.
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