A student at Cooper Union in the early 1960s, Thomas Nozkowski studied under a number of Abstract Expressionist artists, and though he resisted the large scale and all-over composition of the movement, improvisation still guides his work. The richly-colored paintings by the Hudson Valley artist do not share a signature style or theme but are all a modest size and inspired by everyday experiences the artist does not reveal. These commonplace events or narratives act as the starting point for his works, which he develops without knowing the final composition. Here, four rectangles in different shades of blue float within their own pixelated field of color. Nozkowski allows the background and foreground of the piece to merge and invade one another, best seen in the bottom left where the yellow field and blue rectangle become overrun by its neighboring shapes. Experimentation with color and shape guide much of his work, injecting the paintings with a playful energy. Nozkowski has exhibited across the US and his work is included in the collections of the Dallas Museum of Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Whitney Museum.
© thomas nozkowski, photo credit: kerry ryan mcfate