The sharp, solitary eye of Sonia Gechtoff
Two Coats of Paint
Natasha Sweeten
January 28, 2024
Contributed by Natasha Sweeten / The contemplative works of Ukrainian American artist Sonia Gechtoff (born in Philadelphia 1926, died in NYC 2018), now on view at Bortolami and Andrew Kreps Gallery, range from the 1960s to early 2000s, but for me they evoke the frontality of Russian iconography, the dynamism of Italian Futurism, and the fractal abstractions of Sonia Delaunay. Gechtoff was fond of muted primary colors and variations of white and black, and her palette is deliberate and often subdued. Delicate graphite hatch marks spill across painted areas, suggesting movement and depth while presenting isolated instances from curious vantage points.
Most of these works are acrylic and graphite on paper mounted on linen, and there is a flatness to the chalkboard sheen that belies the active, unfolding landscape. But wait – are they landscapes? That form is implied, yet the works seem more focused on capturing the ephemeral: a puff of wind, a breaking icy wave, a frigid moonrise. What is notably absent is the human figure or much sign of human activity at all. Instead, we are left to surmise the scale of this world and to acknowledge its apparent obliviousness to our existence, much less our gaze.
At times Gechtoff deftly plays with formal boundaries, recognizing paintings as physical entities and anticipating what today we take for granted: a picture within a picture, or, perhaps more accurately here, a picture on a picture. In an untitled 1986 piece, she crops the bottom of the image with broken, horizontal black and purple bands from which two purple smokestack-like shapes emerge, their hard edges anchoring the composition. It’s an unusual and bold decision, inviting various interpretations of the landscape beyond: perhaps the bands are a berth for the viewer; perhaps the painting captures competing moments or perspectives; perhaps Gechtoff’s intension by fracturing space is to emphasize the piece’s objecthood.
The most straightforward landscape, another untitled painting from 1986, is a fiery field of mainly siennas and burnt oranges and reds. Again, hard edges control the bottom of the picture plane while jagged and wispy forms flash like impending cloudbursts above. The unmistakable star of the painting is a demure moon, its trail of light unspooling like a ball of illuminated white yarn. Its placement denotes the surrounding flurry of brushstrokes as sky, that space collapsing against the now undefined edge of field.
The lone collage on view is the circular Untitled (Round Icon Collage), from 1962, at Andrew Kreps Gallery. Here Gechtoff lets loose, shedding her more ascetic palette in favor of a few pinks and baby blues and allowing the paper, with its whiteness and torn edges, to emerge from the picture plane, like frenzied waves spied from a porthole.
Not as familiar with Gechtoff as I’d like to be, I looked up her 2018 obituary in the New York Times. She is described as “a prominent Abstract Expressionist” who came to critical attention while living on the West Coast, moving to New York City in 1958 with her artist husband James Kelly. Judging from the accompanying images, her work was impressively varied and evolved over many decades. The two shows now up offer a portal into what seem to be her more mystical and somber periods – reflections on the solitude and evanescence of a life.
“Sonia Gechtoff: Objects on the New Landscape,” Bortolami, 39 Walker Street, New York, NY, through March 2, 2024; and Andrew Kreps Gallery, 394 Broadway, New York, NY, through February 10, 2024.
Associated Artist
Associated Exhibitions
- Sonia Gechtoff Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-70
February 9, 2024 - March 7, 2024
MORE INFO - Sonia Gechtoff Objects on the New Landscape
January 12, 2024 - March 2, 2024
MORE INFO
Associated News
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January 28, 2024
The sharp, solitary eye of Sonia Gechtoff
Two Coats of Paint
Natasha Sweeten
January 28, 2024 -
January 28, 2024
The New Yorker Goings On -
August 1, 2022
Sonia Gechtoff
Artnet
Sarah Cascone
August 2022 -
August 1, 2022
Sonia Gechtoff
The New Yorker
Johanna Fateman
August 2022 -
July 27, 2022
Sonia Gechtoff Finally Gets Her Due
HyperAllergic
John Yau
July 27, 2022
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December 2, 2021
Getting to Know an Overlooked Pioneer of Bay Area Abstraction
HYPERALLERGIC
John Yau
December 2, 2021 -
October 27, 2021
Sonia Gechtoff
The 1960s In New York: A Series of Transitions
ArtDaily
October 27, 2021
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October 27, 2021
Sonia Gechtoff
The 1960s In New York: A Series of Transitions
GalleriesNow
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April 26, 2021
Press Release - Sonia Gechtoff: Gesture Meets Hard Edge: Part 1 -
April 26, 2021
Sonia Gechtoff: Gesture Meets Hard Edge: Part I
GalleriesNow
April 26, 2021
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October 12, 2019
A Forgotten Painter and Her Visionary Abstraction
Hyperallergic
John Yau
October 12, 2019 -
September 9, 2019
Paintings from 1988 to 1995 10 Sep?—?5 Oct 2019 at the David Richard Gallery
Wall Street International Magazine
September 9, 2019 -
September 9, 2019
Paintings from 1988 to 1995
Wall Street International Magazine09/09/2019
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September 4, 2019
Sonia Gechtoff: Forces of Nature on the Grand Stage: Paintings from 1988 to 1995
Galleriesnow.net
September 4, 2019 -
August 28, 2019
Press Release - Sonia Gechtoff "Forces of Nature on the Grand Stage: Paintings from 1988 to 1995" -
March 14, 2018
Sonia Gechtoff - The End of an Era in the Male-Dominated Abstract Expressionism
Ideelart
March 14, 2018
By Phillip Barcio -
February 9, 2018
Sonia Gechtoff, Acclaimed Abstract Expressionist, Dies at 91
The New York Times
By Neil Genzlinger
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February 9, 2018
SONIA GECHTOFF (1926–2018)
ArtForum
February 9, 2018
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February 8, 2018
Sonia Gechtoff was a key but little-recognized figure in the Abstract Expressionist movement. -
May 22, 2017
Drawings from the early 1960's by Sonia Gechtoff on view at Anders Wahlstedt Fine Art
ArtDaily.com
Ma7 22, 2017
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June 23, 2016
The Divine Dozen: Sonia Gechtoff’s Star Still Shines Brightly
by Rosemary Carstens -
February 22, 2015
Momentum: An Experiment in the Unexpected
San Jose Art Museum
February 22, 2015
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April 13, 2014
Sonia Gechtoff in Her Studio: Then and Now
Westbeth.org -
October 17, 2011
Sonia Gechtoff: The Ferus Years
Published on Oct 17, 2011
A collection of Ferus era drawings and paintings at Nyehaus.
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January 20, 2011
The Cool Revival: Sonia Gechtoff in San Francisco
Art In America
By Faye Hirsch
January 20, 2011