Ed McCormack writes a Review - 2002 - on the Art of Amy Banker, for the New York Art World website

Art Review — NewYorkArtWorld.com

Photo © Tracey Gudwin 2002
Amy Banker at the Studio

While it took several leisurely centuries for figurative painting ot evolve from the ancient world, through the Renaissance, beyond Impressionism, to the present - when a good many artists still struggle with the challenge of representing the visible aspects of experience fruitfully - it would seem that the cycles of abstract art have been on fast-forward since the start of the last century.

Propelled by critical pressures that have little to do with the timeless space in which painting should properly germinate at its own pace, there can be no doubt thtthis too-rapid acceleration in the name of novelty has cheated us of much that abstract art has yet to offer aborting its progress and its promise at crucial points, simply because subsequent generations of artists felt unnaturally coerced to react against what proceeded them as a matter of course, rather than being allowed to build upon and add to its legacy.

This particularly true of Abstract Expressionism, simply because it loomed so large for so long in the critical mythology as the movement that put American painting on the map and established New York City as its epicenter. In fact, neither Pop nor Minimalism nor any of the mini-movements that followed in their wake have had the initial impact or measured up to the accomplishments of painters such as De Kooning, Pollock, Kline, and gorky; nor have they produced work near as authentically revolutionary.

Established artists like Brice Marden, Frank Stella, and Lawrence Poons, who launched their careers with austere geometric styles, only to circle back in recent years to explore more gestural modes of expression, appear to have come to this realization belatedly. Even more exciting, however, is to discover an emerging artist such as Amy Banker, whose vigorous and lyrical abstract canvases can be seen in two consecutive solo shows at Ezair Gallery, 905 Madison Avenue, the first from April 1 to 30; the second from May 1 to 31.

. . . the wheels and deals of motion . . .

Both exhibitions are entitled "The Wheels and Deals of Motion," which seems as apt a title as any, given the whirling compositional rhythms that animate Banker's canvases, with their tactile scraped and distressed surfaces, their vibrant chromatic contrasts, and their thinly scumbled passages giving way to gorgeous, juicy impastos. At the same time, there is a lot more than mere painterly pyrotechnics to be found in the work of this artist who Knox Martin, one of her mentors at The Art Students League, has predicted will be a "leading force in the 21st century art world," adding that Banker has already "earned admiration and respect as a distinguished American artist."

Amy Banker herself will tell you that the legacy of Abstract Expressionism was not something she set out to claim but simply "absorbed by osmosis" as a native New Yorker.

Photo © Tracey Gudwin 2002
Detail of the Studio
oil on canvas

In any case, she has not only assimilated the lessons of the New York School but has built upon them in a manner that makes her a refreshing anomaly in the contemporary arena for the authenticity that she brings to the gesture as an autonomous force, uncorrupted by the coy strategizing and hipper-than-thou irony that far too many of her peers employ as self-protective distancing devices.

. . . the movement that put American painting on the map. . .

Indeed, Amy Banker wields her brush as though no one ever told her that honest passion has now become The Last Taboo, or that slick conceptual schtick and stylistic posturing has replaced commitment to the lyrical impulse in much recent art. And her stubborn commitment to the following dictates of her own sensibility lends her canvases an authenticity that is undeniable and inspiring to those of us who still hold high hopes for the future of genuine painterly endeavor.

On encountering an oil such as "Bicycle and Umbrella" at Ezair Gallery, one is immediately struck by its compositional thrust, its coloristic impact, and its rugged physical pesence, recalling the almost visceral jolt one felt, facing for the first time a de Kooning, a Pollock, or a Gorky. For without being in the least bit imitative of those earlier artists, Banker reinstates the notion of the painting as both object and event by virtue of her muscular paint handling and her rhapsodic orchestration of a palette that ranges from rosy to vibrant red hues, to deep nocturnal blues, to verdant greens, to strident yellows and frosty whites that slice decisively into her forms or play along their edges like liquid light.

As consumate a draftsperson s she is a colorist, Banker's paintings are beautifully "drawn," her brush strokes sliding sinuously on the natural viscosity of oil pigment itself, swirling serpentinely to articulate a shape, or veering off to culminate in splashy configurations that obfuscate meaning, even as they allude to any number of possible subjects or objects: the outline of a bicycle wheel and the hint of a figure here; the calligraphic suggestion of furious patterns of fertile organic growth in another major painting called "Poppy Fields," or the sense of a weathered, slab-like portal dappled by metaphysical auras in the scroll-shaped composition "Lower East Side Synagogue Door."

Photo © Tracey Gudwin 2002
Amy Banker at the Studio

It is possible to Rorschch all manner of subjects into the evocative shapes enlivening the compositions of Amy Banker, who readily admits that all of her life experiences, from simplest to the most profound - as well as sundry other influences, ranging from psychology (in which she holds a degree) to fairy tales - are fodder for her paintings. Far more germane to the importance of her work however, is how successfully Banker builds on the accomplishments of her aesthetic forbearers, adding a vital new voice to the gestural tradition and extending its possibilities into the post-modern era and beyond.

The Paintings of Amy Banker had 2 shows at the Ezair Gallery, the first from April through April 30, 2002; the second from May 1 through 31, 2002.

Click here to see more work by Amy Banker

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