PAINTINGS > FORCE FIELD PAINTINGS

"In this body of work Gortner participates with his materials in an alchemy of gestures including cutting, spraying, glazing, bonding, breaking, stapling, screwing, paint slopping and brush wielding. Some paintings begin with Gortner bolting together smaller found paintings, then working into the larger arrangement. With another technique the artist cuts out passages from found paintings, grafting them face to face with poured paint. Later, when the paint is dry, he breaks apart the bonded paint surfaces- transposing various layers of the two surfaces into one abstraction. Gortner then paints further into these transformations, making them exactly as he sees fit."