093PREVIEWThey reflect, pick up one another’s color
and cast their own. They may imply human,
temporal relationships—two martinis, two
cigarettes, two people gone away for a
moment, or forever.
He comments, “In a funny way the
absence of the people implies their
presence.”
When he is setting up the still lifes, Greg
says he’s “not thinking literally. Generally,
the things seem like they all belong
together. They make sense.” He plays with
light and shadow as well as the relationship
of the objects and then does a full-scale,
detailed drawing on thin paper. He then
transfers the drawing to a gessoed panel.
When the painting feels like “This is what
I’m seeing” he is finished.
In Martini and Apples the solidity of the
apples is balanced visually by the shadow
of the martini glass on the right. The glass
itself is nearly centered, creating an iconicpresence, while the shadow, an absence,
has a presence of its own.
Gregg’s objects have “their own stories”
and are ready to play a role in ours as we
wander visually among them, interrupting
their shadowed and reflected relationships,
imposing our own. When we step back,
they resume.
Gregg’s recent paintings can be seen
at George Billis Gallery in New York,
December 4 through January 7.4