T W E N T Y Y E A R S O F PA I N T I N G CR LAUL • SELECT WORK • 2000 – 2020
The following pages are a snap shot of my exploration in painting over the past twenty years. My work can be found in both corporate and private collections around the world and is a venue for personal expression, meditation, and enjoyment. – cr. Laul
T W E N T Y
Y E A R S
O F
P A I N T I N G
T W E N T Y Y E A R S O F PA I N T I N G CR LAUL • SELECT WORK • 2000 – 2020
Copyright Š2020 All rights reserved. No part of this book my be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author. CR LAUL STUDIO Book design by ro• bbii
Cover: Atomic Sky 2020 Acrylic & Spray Paint on Canvas 36" x 36"
Dedicated to Alfred C. Laul
The Tate, New York, NY
Forward As I reflect on my twenty year career in art, I am filled with the memories of my paintings — all of which I regard as friends. Some are old, some new and yet, all representing a moment in time and integral parts of my journey. This journey, the desire to create, is a calling that has provided moments of meditation influenced by nature, music and experiences. My curiosity and need for regular experimentation has resulted in a body of work that is endlessly varied. These variations have many inspirations but I often come back to the role that architecture and design has had on these explorations and the tremendous influence they have had on my style. With no formal art training, I became reliant on colleagues and friends in the design industry for the necessary dialogue that feeds these investigations. The exposure to world class talent has inspired me and sustained my desire to make art. Publishing this twenty year compendium in the year 2020 also seems appropriate. This year has been challenging, on so many levels, for me as well as for most of world. In January my father passed away. The first true loss of my life and an event that continues to haunt me. He was always supportive of me and I know this book would make him very proud. The global pandemic and subsequent quarantine afforded me a unique opportunity to not only spend more time painting but also allowed time to reflect on two decades of work. It has been a period of rest, reflection, and strong emotions. While the world has been in a sort of suspended animation, time continues to march on. The one consistent element of my life has always been change. I feel that the works in this book represent that change. I have been blessed and may this all continue for many more years. cr. Laul August 2020
Artist Statement The act of painting has always been about process and representative of a moment in time, of a mood, and of a feeling. The ever changing nature of these emotions means the marks they inspire are a record of where I was at the time — a kind of visual diary. As I age and dedicate more time to selfreflection I find myself influenced by relationships and past experiences. The intensity of earlier paintings has, for a time been replaced by works that are more patient, reflective, meditative. My most recent series of paintings rely heavily on nature. Land, sea, sky, horizon, are all reduced and amplified through color and line. The influence of architecture and graphic design is also apparent and enrich my body of work. The notion of experimentation and self-education in my art forces me to continually push boundaries and is ever changing. Regardless of style I have always been drawn to the physical act of painting, the intimacy with the medium. Movement and force are integral parts of my process whether they are gentle gestures or commanding actions of my entire body. Imported onto a surface, this kinetic energy chronicles my connection between medium and surface, mood and feeling, time and place. Lastly but no less important, geometry, balance, disorder, and color, all create the rich tool kit from which I draw. I would be remiss, however, if I ignored how spontaneity and chance are also integral to the path I follow. This is not to say that I have no direction, but to reinforce how much the moment, medium, surface and style whisper to me on how to proceed. All I have to do is listen. cr. Laul August 2020
Acknowledgments Karen Laul, first and foremost to my love, my home. It is not easy being married to an artist. I am grateful to you for everything in my life and there is no other person I would want to be in this journey with. You mean the world to me and I thank you. Aidan and Kieran, you are my legacy. You both provide me with inspiration and challenge me every day to be better. You have enriched my life and I am so very grateful and proud of you both. Linda Laul, my mother, whose encouragement, love and support has been the foundation for so much success in my life. Ryan Laul, my best friend, whose advice has always helped me to make my work better. I am looking forward to our next adventure and lunch. James Meindl, my big brother and friend. Let’s keep the party going. Alexander Robb, for always watching my back and keeping me organized for so many years. Jim and Mary Reilly, for all of your support, most notably helping me get my first studio off the ground, I am so very grateful. Robbii Wessen, my dear friend, without whom this book would not have happened. Thank you for keeping me on track and for always providing guidance on keeping things in perspective. Simon Saadon, who has been integral to my art career and process, without Simon my work is simply not finished, I appreciate your advice and friendship and am looking forward to the next show. Tonny Sadha, a world class interior designer who has always believed in my work and took a chance on me early on. Jennifer Murphy, who helped me get my first commission which launched a career in art. Hiro Hosokawa, who has helped me in so many ways including providing the introduction which led to my first gallery show. HOK, for their support and for the community that has allowed me to grow as an artist and professional.
Collections & Exhibits Accor North America, New York Headquarters, New York, NY Adapt Community Network, New York, NY Adelphi University, Garden City, NY Alladin Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, NV Allegria Hotel, Long Beach, NY Bayard Rock, New York. NY Brennan Beer Gorman / Architects, New York, NY Capital Towers Hotel, Dubai, UAE Care Plus, New York, NY Castle House, New London, CT Foster Media, San Francisco, CA Four Seasons Hotel, Austin, TX Gallery Juno, New York, NY Grand Hyatt Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Grand Hyatt, Taipei, Taiwan Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Boston, MA Haworth Furniture, New York, NY HOK, New York, NY Hotel Sofitel, Miami, FL Hotel Sofitel, Philadelphia, PA Hotel Sofitel, Washington, DC
Hyatt Regency On The Hudson, Jersey City, NJ Infiniti Automobiles Inter-Continental Hotel, Boston, MA Marco Island Marriott, Marco Island, FL Marriott Marquis, New York, NY MGM Beau Rivage Hotel & Casino, Biloxi, MS MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NV New York Fireman’s Museum, New York, NY Omni Berkshire Place, New York, NY Premiere Fine Art, New Hope, PA Raffles, The Plaza, Singapore Ravel Hotel, Long island City, NY Red Star Media, Chicago, IL Seven-O-Seven Contemporary, Santa Fe, New Mexico The Palace Hotel, New York, NY The Related Companies, New York, NY The Tate, Residential Building, New York, NY The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA Twenty Two Liberty, Boston, MA Zengo Restaurant, Denver, CO
Introduction
Like the roots of abstract expressionism, CR Laul’s influences are largely inspired by his meditations on nature, music and his life experiences. Tracing his development over a twenty-year period, his paintings are highly autobiographical, they read like like a diary channeling his thoughts and energies from brush to canvas via paint and gestural marks. His paintings are full of emotional situations, not so much as the appearance of things but the essence of a moment, period in time and experience; there is the suggestion of landscape, sound, and music that requires a sensory response from the viewer. Laul’s approach to painting is reflected in the words of Han Hoffman words, “An artist must look to nature for the essence of space—but appearance must be thoroughly understood. Space was never a static, inert thing, but alive, and its life can be felt in the rhythm in which everything in a visual ensemble exists.” He further expressed, “Every deep artistic expression is a product of a conscious feeling for reality.” Laul’s canvases represent emotions, feelings and impressions essential to his own identity; images that are recurrently part of his personal world. The result is abstraction, beautifully composed balance of flat shapes and colors all executed with subtle and sophisticated layers of color. What we see are the fragments of drama and spirituality passed down from his precursors, the abstract expressionists filled with spatial components and depth. Laul’s bold colorful visual rhythms and lushly painted surfaces often incorporate gestures using ink sticks and spray paint that express highly charged emotional situations. The similarities and contrasts of a creative production spanning a period of 20 years shows the process of one painter’s life chronicled. His painting Seeker (2006) could be a summation of his experimental discoveries, pushing the medium by vigorously attacking the canvas; slashing, dripping, splattering, pouring, brushing and scribbling surfaces. This could represent a metaphor for soul searching, contemplation, and exploration. In each of the canvases from this period, Laul commands control of space and his tools, which he mans like a central command board — pushing and manipulating colors and surfaces wildly, but never spinning out of control. His use of spray paint as visual punctuation points harks back to the color field painters of the 1960s and 70s but his quirky use of a hint of color here and there bounces the viewers eye over the canvas from one point to the next breaking up the painterly texture with splotches and diagonal spots floating in space across radiant layers of color.
Color and brush strokes reverberate brightly throughout the well-balanced pictorial space as if visual apparitions of musical notes. What makes these works so compelling are the large fields of color that envelope the viewer, tapping into basic human emotions– sensations of sound, music, movement, dance, flying, and laughter by his juxtaposition of textures and forms. In Powderfinger (2006) for example, the tiniest diagonal slash of a red is the keynote that activates the entire painting. His use of diagonal and calligraphic lines drawn and splashed reflects the sensibilities that define the abstract expressionists interest in “subconscious reality”. In Laul’s dreamy Untitled (2003), objects floating in space, contrasting scale, marks and whirling spaces recall the Surrealist touch and whimsy of Joan Miró, while his most recent paintings from 2020 featuring opaque rectangles floating in space call to mind Hans Hoffman’s “Push and Pull” paintings from the 1940s in which flat color planes superimposed on layers of undulating brush strokes move in and out of the picture plane. Like these painters, Laul plays with edges, alternating between flattening space and creating Infinite space — negative versus positive, thus replicating the Yin and Yang of Nature. These early explorations of Laul in which the rectangles float as objects in vast open space such as in Positano (2000) contrast with later paintings, like In a Silent Way (2006); the rectangle becomes the actual space itself. Is it an object or a window? As opposed to color field painters of the 1960’s, these paintings are contained within the edges, they don’t span off to all the edges, the splotches of painting, lines and markings show us a view with life happening in, not vacuous space. The open spaces leave room to show us the action in the foregrounds, the playful movement of colorful gestures, squiggles, and colorful splotches flying across the painterly surface. The deeply spatial gestural works of the early 2000’s give way to a period of retreat in a series of paintings with calmer, denser, less painterly surfaces in works like Palisades 1 (2019) that feel closer in expression to collage works by Robert Motherwell. Architecture plays a significant role in Laul’s oeuvre, one of the common threads consistently running through his work. His representation of looking outward into space intermittently rotates from the experience of being In a Space, (2000) to looking out into it (2015) and finally, through it. (2020) Suddenly as if no longer content with floating objects dancing in space, he adds the architectural line — the window — to his compositions. In a Room on the Other Side (2014) Laul embraces looking outward into space from inside the building, the boardroom, or artist’s studio. Meanwhile, in North Beach, (2014) from indoors, a view of nature is filtered through memories of his experience of/in nature. The two-dimensional space of the canvas becomes a metaphor for gazing outward from the manmade to the natural world.
Like Laul, there is a long history of artists who have employed the use of windows to depict abstract space, play with light, or to suggest the natural world. For example, Henri Matisse’s famous painting, View of Notre Dame Paris, quai Saint-Michel, spring 1914. It depicts Matisse’s vision of the cathedral from his studio window transforming it into an image of layered blue paint intersecting and balancing space with diagonal lines over the canvas surface evoking the architecture. This painting was instrumental in directing other painters to explore “open” spaces from the inside out, which is apparent in Robert Motherwell’s Open series, and Richard Diebenkorn’s 140 Ocean Park series based on changing atmospheric effects; a condition that they each perceived independently from their California studio windows. Influenced by Matisse and the Surrealists, Motherwell explored the notion of the open window for over two decades in these paintings. Summer Open with Mediterranean Blue (1974) is one of many from this series that reiterate his use of color and line to demarcate passageways presenting voyages between the in and out of subconscious reality. More contemporary artists like Howard Hodgkin whose thickly painted wooden frames look outward into immense space echo similar investigations by Laul who remains in good company with them as exemplified in his, A Room on the Other Side (2014), North Beach (2014) and Relic (2014). Although these works are among the most narrative of Laul’s cannon for their obvious references to water, waves and landscape, they share similar sensibilities to the painters mentioned above in the same way they balance the compositions with graphic lines that frame the illusion of exterior space. Never static, and in the same way that art replicates life, no two paintings of Laul’s are alike. His process alternates in contrasting dynamics fluctuating between the organic, gestural flowing scribbling, calligraphy frenzied surfaces of his earlier work such as Now My Hurricane (2006) to the more meditative compressed spaces visible in the works, River 1 (2017) and At the River’s Edge (2018). By contrast, the dramatic open color field spaces have given way to Investigations into slabs of solid mass, balancing forms and design with flat opaque color. These hard-edged beige and gray shapes with hints of red nudge up against one another suggesting a different visualization of nature. Although the titles indicate outdoor landscapes, there are no objects flying through the open sky and there is no longer a sense of looking out at Nature from the window. The examination of negative and positive space results in design-inspired forms, reduced, and minimal, quieter places, minus the musical crescendos and staccatos. He shows us something else. “Hey, so sorry” Laul seems to say, “But you don’t get to look out the window into the open sky any more.” The hard edges and flat surfaces trap the viewers eye inside the edges/borders of the rectangular canvas which aren’t frightening spaces, but at the same time, they emit less oxygen…suggesting a place to withdraw or perhaps the artist taking a mental break by putting infinite spaces on-hold. But in the way that life and art are never stationary, in 2020, Laul (perhaps as an antidote), returns to reconsider the possibilities of
infinite space and floating rectangles in Waiting for an Echo (2020) and Sao Paulo Nights (2020), thus drawing together his afore mentioned understanding of composition and technique with a nod to Gerhard Richter by working with paint-laden squeegee-applied multicolored layers of paint and the flattened colorful rectangles of Hans Hoffman that optically pop your vision in and out of two- dimensional space. Not only do you see this, but you can also imagine hearing the sounds and rhythms these paintings evoke. Not surprisingly, additional works painted by Laul in 2020 such as Daybreak Express (2020) and Alpine (2020), are visual records that he is staying inside — significantly inside — just like the rest of the world observing life outside from indoors. This is the Covid-19 lock-down. Does it represent composure/a safe place in the midst of chaos? A retreat? In response to the crisis, Laul’s vision moves inward rather than outward. This is the pandemic lockdown, the artist is expressing his experience inside looking out into far immense space again, lovingly imagining life outside; the sunset, the beach, the sea, although he only shows us fragments from his open window. Water and Time (2020) portrays a melodious and harmonic emotional response to the crisis that reflects his understanding of the world around him. The elegance of design and palette in these painting only come from being a mature painter — acts of contemplation, meditation. Throughout his journey as an artist Laul continues to share his personal world and observations through the act of painting, and in so doing, connects us, the viewer, to basic human emotions such as compassion and empathy. Whatever direction his work evolves in over the next 20 years is something to anticipate, for whatever influences manifest themselves in his discoveries; they will be transformed into his own painterly vision. To quote Glenn Gould, “The purpose of art in not the release of a momentary ejection of adrenaline but is, rather, the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity.” Kathy Bruce Cooks Falls, New York October 18, 2020
“Watch the stars in their courses and imagine yourself running alongside them. Think constantly on the changes of the elements into each other, for such thoughts wash away the dust of earthly life” – Marcus Aurelius
A Love Supreme • 2014 • Acrylic, Spray Paint, & Oil Stick on Unprimed Canvas • 60" x 72"
Seeker • 2006 • Acrylic, Spray Paint, & Oil Stick on Unprimed Canvas • 60" x 72"
Now My Hurricane • 2006 • Acrylic, Spray Paint, & Oil Stick on Unprimed Canvas • 60" x 72"
Powderfinger • 2006 • Acrylic, Spray Paint, & Oil Stick on Unprimed Canvas • 60" x 72"
Delta of Venus • 2018 • Acrylic, Spray Paint & India Ink on Wood Panel • 18" x 24"
Rain Cloud in the Dessert Sky • 2011 • Acrylic, Spray Paint, & India Ink on Canvas • 36" x 48"
Escape • 2015 • Oil on Canvas • 84" x 44"
Positano • 2000 • Acrylic & Spray Paint on Canvas • 11" x 11"
Legacy • 2008 • Acrylic & Oil Stick on Canvas • 24" x 24"
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants • 2004 • Acrylic & India Ink on Canvas • 36" x 36"
A New Life • 2005 • Acrylic, Spray Paint, & India Ink on Linen • 15" x 36"
Istanbul • 2003 • Oil & India Ink on Canvas • 9" x 12"
Hunter • 2003 • Oil on Canvas • 9" x 12"
Moroccan Blonde • 2003 • Oil & Spray Paint on Canvas • 9" x 12"
Salt • 2003 • Oil & India Ink on Canvas • 9" x 12"
In a Silent Way • 2006 • Acrylic, Spray Paint, & India Ink on Canvas • 15" x 36"
Rock Steady • 2006 • Acrylic & Spray Paint on Canvas • 15" x 36"
Its Better to Be Cool • 2006 • Acrylic, Spray Paint, & India Ink on Canvas • 15" x 36"
Lord of the Heart • 2006 • Acrylic, Spray Paint, & India Ink on Canvas • 15" x 36"
The Road Home • 2006 • Acrylic, Spray Paint, & India Ink on Canvas • 15" x 36"
Untitled • 2003 • Acrylic on Paper • 36" x 24"
Relic • 2014 • Acrylic & Spray Paint on Linen • 18" x 18"
North Beach • 2014 • Oil on Canvas • 12" x 12"
A Room on the Other Side • 2014 • Acrylic on Canvas • 9" x 12"
Late Night Tale • 2013 • Oil & India Ink on Canvas • 36” x 36”
The Swimmer • 2013 • Oil & India Ink on Canvas • 36" x 36"
Easy Rider • 2020 • Acrylic on Wood Panel • 24" x 18"
Quarantine • 2020 • Acrylic on Wood Panel • 12" x 12"
Daybreak Express • 2020 • Acrylic, Spay Paint, & Graphite on Wood Panel • 12" x 12"
Alpine • 2020 • Acrylic, Spay Paint, & Graphite on Wood Panel • 12" x 12"
Water and Time • 2020 • Acrylic, Spay Paint, & Graphic on Wood Panel • 12" x 12"
Sao Paulo Nights • 2020 • Acrylic on Wood Panel • 12" x 12"
Hugo • 2020 • Acrylic on Wood Panel • 12" x 12"
Waiting for an Echo • 2020 • Acrylic on Wood Panel • 12" x 12"
Imitating the Powerful • 2020 • Acrylic on Canvas • 12" x 12"
River 1 • 2017 • Acrylic & Graphite on Wood Panel • 8" x 8"
Submerge 1 • 2020 • Acrylic & Graphite on Wood Panel • 12" x 12"
Palisades 1 • 2019 • Acrylic & Graphite on Wood Panel • 16" x 20"
Mid Century Dream • 2019 • Acrylic & Graphite on Wood Panel • 16" x 20"
At the River’s Edge • 2018 • Acrylic & Graphite on Wood Panel • 12" x 12"
Forgotten Path • 2018 • Acrylic & Graphite on Wood Panel • 16" x 20"
Fracture • 2020 • Acrylic & Graphite on Wood Panel • 12" x 12"
Tank Hill • 2020 • Acrylic & Graphite on Wood Panel • 12" x 12"
Swimming Hole • 2019 • Acrylic & Graphite on Wood Panel • 12" x 12"
Ledge • 2020 • Acrylic & Spay Paint on Canvas • 36" x 36"
Glacier • 2020 • Acrylic & Spay Paint on Canvas • 36" x 36"
Basin Harbor • 2018 • Acrylic & Graphite on Wood Panel • 12" x 12"
Atomic Sky • 2020 • Acrylic & Spray Paint on Canvas • 36" x 36"
Field 2 • 2020 • Acrylic & Spay Paint on Canvas • 36" x 36"
Pharaohs Dance • 2020 • Acrylic, India Ink and Spray Paint on Canvas • 36" x 36"
HOK, New York, NY
Back Cover: Smoke Signals 2000 Charcoal, Oil Paint Stick, India Ink and Acrylic on Canvas 36" x 36"
Like the roots of abstract expressionism, CR Laul’s influences are largely inspired by his meditations on nature, music and his life experiences. Tracing his development over a twenty-year period, his paintings are highly autobiographical, they read like like a diary channeling his thoughts and energies from brush to canvas via paint and gestural marks.
– Kathy Bruce
CR LAUL STUDIO crlaulstudio.com