My current work explores the expressive potential of colored pencils—not merely as drawing tools, but as vessels of pigment, akin to tubes of paint. I’m drawn to their immediacy and precision, and to the way they allow for subtle gradations of color that evoke planetary surfaces and atmospheric shifts.

Central to my compositions is the sphere: a form that is both universal and abstract. It serves as a visual anchor, a reference point that invites viewers to project meaning. The way color is applied—layered, glazed, and modulated—often leads the viewer to interpret these spheres as celestial bodies. This ambiguity is intentional. The sphere, in its simplicity, becomes a building block of abstract iconography, capable of carrying emotional and perceptual weight.

Each piece I create is a meditation on how color, form, and perception intersect. I aim to construct visual environments that are both intimate and expansive—spaces where viewers can linger, interpret, and feel.

Color itself is my primary subject. I’m fascinated by how matte, opaque pigments can still appear luminous—how they seem to contain light, even when they do not reflect it. This paradox drives my exploration of perception: how color is seen, defined, and felt.

My process is shaped by a constellation of influences. Josef Albers’s belief that juxtaposed colors alter perception informs my approach to chromatic relationships. Mark Rothko’s use of layering and glazing inspires the emotional resonance I seek through depth and transparency. Robert Irwin’s spatial works—particularly his use of spheres and his treatment of light as color—have expanded my understanding of space and sensory experience. All three artists pursued abstraction as a language of communication, and I follow that path with my own materials and methods.

ABOUT

Gary Golkin “The act of making, and what I saw on the paper and felt, committed me to a future path.”

Born in upstate New York, Gary has spent a lifetime in quiet dialogue with abstraction, visual perception, and emotional truth. His early encounters with art—first through the haunting beauty of The Red Shoes, then through an Impressionist painting that compelled him to create—set him on a path of lifelong exploration.

He studied at the Tyler School of Art and Syracuse University, later receiving a fellowship at the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center. There, he connected deeply with Myron Stout—not as student to teacher, but artist to artist—sharing a non-verbal language rooted in visual discernment and mutual respect.

A member of the American Abstract Artists since the late 1970s, [Your Name] has long engaged with abstraction not as style, but as a language of clarity, emotion, and inquiry. After decades working in the decorative arts, he now devotes himself fully to drawing—a medium that has become central to his practice.

His current series presents a gradated sphere in the foreground, surrounded by large circles of solid color. The familiarity of the sphere invites viewers into the work—whether through associations with planetary forms, personal memory, or the sheer presence of how it is rendered. In an age of rapid visual consumption and relentless information, these drawings offer a moment of stillness and focus. Using primary geometry and direct scale, they ask the viewer to slow down and look.

Each composition explores formal color relationships: the interaction of hues, their intensity, depth, texture, temperature, and emotional resonance. The central sphere exists in dialogue with its surrounding forms, offering both a visual anchor and a conceptual entry point. Through this work, [Your Name] continues his lifelong investigation into how we see, feel, and connect—with art, and with ourselves.