This exhibition surveys Systemic Pattern Painting by a specific group of artists who were part of the Criss-Cross cooperative. These artists lived primarily in New York City and Boulder, Colorado and explored complex mathematically-derived patterns and abstract structures. The cooperative was part of the broader Pattern and Decoration movement from the 1970s. This presentation focuses on artworks mostly from the 1970s and 80s, with a few selections by Dean Fleming from the early 1960s and recent paintings by Clark Richert and Robert Swain.

David Richard Gallery is pleased to announce the upcoming presentation, Systemic Pattern Painting: Artists of the Criss-Cross Cooperative that includes artworks by artists: Charles DiJulio, Dean Fleming, Richard Kallweit, Gloria Klein, Marilyn Nelson, Clark Richert, Dee Shapiro, Robert Swain, George Woodman and Mario Yrisarry. The opening reception with several of the artist will be Sunday September 9, 2018 from 1:00 to 6:00 PM and the exhibition will be on view through October 7, 2018.

The gallery will host two panel discussions. The first includes Richard Kallweit, Marilyn Nelson and Clark Richert and will be moderated by Anne Swartz, Professor of Art History, Savannah College of Art and Design on Tuesday evening, September 11 from 7:30 to 8:30 PM. The second panel discussion includes Gloria Klein, Dee Shapiro and Mario Yrisarry, the date will be announced separately. The discussions will be recorded and posted on www.davidrichardgallery.com.

A digital catalog will be available online featuring artworks as well as reproductions from the Criss-Cross Art Communications of original essays and interviews from the mid to late 1970s with each of the artists in the exhibition. Recent essays by Clark Richert and Marilyn Nelson will be included as well as an essay by art historian and critic Peter Frank of Los Angeles.

Patterns exist in many different disciplines and are ubiquitous in daily life, they can be found in nature, mathematics, architecture, dance and art. What is unique about the patterning from the artists of the Criss-Cross cooperative is their highly technical approaches and rigorous processes. The patterns are detailed, complex and frequently multilayered and range from repeating patterns with regular tessellation to non-periodic patterns that are infinite and never repeat within a single structure. Aesthetically, the artists processes range from highly precise with crisp lines to more painterly approaches that rely on the patterns and color to harmonize and provide structure from a distance.

Systemic pattern painting is predetermined in the artist’s mind, the process is ordered and structured with rules—mostly self-imposed as part of a disciplined process to maintain compositional rigor and continuity, generally involves mathematical counting systems and most frequently with repetition such that patterns emerge. The patterning of the Criss-Cross cooperative is rooted in the grid, use of polygons, a love of fractal geometry and color.

Regarding members of the Criss-Cross cooperative, Marilyn Nelson states that, “They identified with anti-impressionistic, non-minimalistic, non-conceptual works; mechanic and precise techniques; ordered pieces shaped by the mind prior to execution; and those that integrated individual elements systematically, permitting each element to maintain its own identity while serving to comprise the whole”.