GALLERIES

By Cate McQuaid, Globe Correspondent, 12/6/2002

The eyes have it

John Guthrie's out to make your eyes pop. He combines elements of op art, action painting, and color field painting in his show at the Gallery @ Green Street. At first glance the works look like line paintings in which he uses a rule to draw perfect columns down the canvas, parading colors that buzz when set beside one another. Look closer and you'll see there's no rule at all: Guthrie waters down acrylic paint and lets it drip, top to bottom. The rivulets head downward but veer here and there, overlapping but never looking like the classic drip you'd see in a Jackson Pollock painting; together they create a curtain of color.

Guthrie shows us how the eye assumes, making a geometric painting out of something more subtle. He's all about the eye. When he had the opportunity to create a sense of depth between the lines and a background, he objected. He wanted no background. Such work depicts a space that makes you want to step into a painting - a physical, rather than an ocular, response Different color combinations provoke different responses: electric, seductive, or soothing. There are endless tonal permutations, and Guthrie has found an appealingly random technique with which to explore them.

John Guthrie At: The Gallery @cq Green Street, 141 Green St., Jamaica Plain, through Dec. 22nd. 617-522-0000. www.jameshull.com

This story ran on page E20 of the Boston Globe on 12/6/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.

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