Gabriele Evertz: One of the works in our collection is by my colleague and friend, the painter Robert Swain, who is known for his research into color behavior and color organization. For many years Swain made large-scale grid paintings, structured according to the principles of the golden section. His unique and ever-expanding filing system keeps track of over 4000 distinct colors. After maintaining his practice for 40 years, in 2006 Swain began his brushstroke paintings. Even when he uses no more than three colors, as in this particular painting, he sets them into disruptive contrast by their closeness in value and contrasting hues. The visual elements are distributed in varying changes in size, quantity, and location, tumbling from the top of the painting to the bottom left corner. Swain’s prior works felt restless in their apparent movement of immaterial blocks of light and color, which seemed to continuously advance and recede. These new works ask viewers to engage with the materiality of color as paint, something visceral and physical, the “physical fact” that Albers spoke of in relation to “psychic effects.” vAs a result, Swain has arrived at two different visual languages, equally valid, that reveal color experiences that may initially be individual and private but ultimately, evince our shared humanity. This painting reminds me daily of the idea of artistic freedom. It takes me beyond cultural restraints and, by example, gives me permission to make work that deals with compassion. It aims at the revelation of our basic mutuality in the experience of joy or suffering.

Associated Artist

• Gabriele Evertz
• Robert Swain

Associated News

• April 1, 2023
  Robert Swain: The Perception of Color
  The Brooklyn Rail
  By Alfred Mac Adam
  March 31, 2023
  
  


• February 27, 2023
  Robert Swain: The Perception of Color
  GalleriesNow
  February 27, 2023
  
  


• February 26, 2023
  Press Release - Robert Swain The Perception of Color


• March 11, 2021
  Robert Swain's scaled color studies for monumental series on view at David Richard Gallery
  ArtDaily
  March 11, 2021
  


• November 20, 2017
  Press Release - Robert Swain "Color: Theory and Affect"


• October 1, 2015
  Gabriel Evertz - Breaking Pattern
  Schneider Museum of Art, 10/01/2015
  
  


• July 13, 2015
  Robert Swain Color Energy
  The Brooklyn Rail, 07/13/2015
  Hovey Brock
  
  


• June 6, 2014
  At Bergamot Station: Great paintingsfor every taste
  Huffington Post, 06/05/2014
  John Seed
  
  


• June 6, 2014
  Robert Swain presents "Color as a Transfer of Energy
  


• May 22, 2014
  Culture Watch: Looking forward
  Santa Monica Daily Press, 05/22/2014
  
  


• May 18, 2014
  Santa Monica Art Events. The Form of Color by Robert Swain (45 Years of Research!!)
  Yareah Magazine, 05/18/2014
  
  


• November 11, 2012
  Press Release - Gabriele Evertz "Optic Drive"


• May 14, 2012
  ROBERT SWAIN "COLOR AFFECT" AT DAVID RICHARD GALLERY
  Eyes In, 05/14/2012
  
  


• May 11, 2012
  Press Release - Robert Swain "Color Affect"