David Richard Gallery is please to present ISAAC ADEN: THE NUMINOUS SUBLIME AND THE ROMANTICS, a public preview of his most recent monumental paintings.  Over the span of two installations,  the preview will feature nineteen new oil paintings, measuring 9 x 12 ft and one monumental work measuring 12 x 27 ft.  These paintings  represent the seminal progression of Aden’s Tonal paintings, an ongoing series Aden has developed over the last five years.  The paintings are formless layers of diffused gradients of colors which appear as ethereal and atmospheric canvases.  These works, even more so than the previous paintings in the series, because of their scale evoke the sublime. 

The Sublime has long been a part of the aesthetic discourse which follows the evolution of landscape painting into pure abstraction. Early proponents of the commonly held viewpoints including Edmund Burke and Immanuel Kant were followed by twentieth century thinkers like Robert Rosenblum who applied the term to the aesthetic gains made by some of the Abstract Expressionists like Mark Rothko.  The dominant discourse on the sublime since the 18^th century has centered around the topics of awe and terror.  However there have been moments in which new ways of considering this phenomenon have developed. 

For example, the American painter Worthington Whittredge described a uniquely  American sublime realized in the paintings of Asher B. Durand. This sublime was one of a raw primordial untouched forest in contrast industrial deforestation occurring in Europe. 

The concept Numinous Sublime was introduced by the metaphysical theologian Rudolf Otto and focused less on a sublime of terror and more on an uplifting one  that was spiritual in nature.  Rothko’s last body of work The Rothko Chapel, consist of fourteen “Black” paintings permanently displayed in an interfaith sanctuary.  Rothko’s paintings seem to key into the Numinous Sublime, not necessarily in a religious sense, but in a wholly personal and meditative spiritual experience. Aden’s paintings address the same phenomenological and emotional experience in relation to the viewer and the sublime.  The canvases consume the periphery of the viewer, and the effect of the gradual gradient creates a boundless field.  This lack of observable form doesn’t allow the viewer to latch on to a specific signifier or object in the painting.  The result of this is to reflect the viewing back on to the audience creating a highly subjective and personal experience. 

Seeing the works in person creates the space essential to realize them and rewards the viewer. We welcome you to visit our gallery in person or to learn more about this exhibition and the other artists we represent through the many videos, writings, photographs and catalogs available on our website.