DEPTH AND SURFACE: Is painting, like art itself, a presentation of the “on top,” obvious, immediate?—and is it also a presentation of what is implied, deep, “below”?—and is art, consequently, an interplay of surface and sensation as “this” and depth and thought as “all that”? —Eli Siegel, from Is Beauty the Making One of Opposites?
Poleskie’s “flat” yet deep landscapes are amazing, and this one surprises and delights in its playful uniqueness. It is a tondo, a circular work of art, but has that freeform, undulating silver cloud bursting out of the confines of the yellow, green and red concentric circles that contain the rest of the landscape. As the cloud comes out of and weaves between those colorful circles, it seems almost to float in front of the print’s surface. Yet in the center, it goes behind that rising, dark green landform, which appears in the distance.
Through his use of abstract shapes, flat colors on paper, Poleskie achieved the effect of an expansive landscape that goes deep into the distance, a landscape at once contained and free.
Is this what we want to feel: that we can venture out, even be a bit wild, in a way that isn’t against the structure, restraint we also want and need? Art shows, as Aesthetic Realism teaches, that we can have both. —Dan McClung