Alex Klein

Subtly nuanced paintings of colour and space

The apparent spaces of Alex Klein’s colour-field paintings emerge from the interaction of carefully crafted, layered shapes and shading. He mainly uses black, white, light and shadow, but countless greys enrich this reserved tonality. The muted colours are mysteriously intense: repeatedly layered (and sometimes removed) washes suggest both meditative calm and buzzing vitality. Although delicate brush strokes sometimes outline the implied geometry, the fields of colour merge elegantly. We seek the ideal spaces, which vary according to the ambient light. The ambiguous boundaries and dense emptiness of this two-dimensional “space” inspire a geometry going beyond the picture. This space receives too little light and schematically suggests boundaries and depth or is flooded with light and transcends time and space. Delicate layers of pigment scraped down into the ground are joined by irregular grids to evoke an indecipherable three-dimensionality.