Paul Resika, Orange Moon, 2024, Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 inches. BP#PR-9187
The Critic’s Notebook
James Panero | April 30, 2024
“Paul Resika: Ode to the Moon,” at Bookstein Projects, New York (through May 31): The paintings in “Paul Resika: Ode to the Moon,” now on view at Bookstein Projects, span a remarkable eighty years. A suite of bold new work, of celestial bodies pared down to brushstroke, color, and form, all painted in Resika’s ninety-fifth year, connects to Moonlight, a small landscape from 1943–44 painted when the artist was just sixteen years old. The brightness values may vary, but in all a minimum of line defines depth in what is otherwise a blind and blinding sight. Illuminated across time, the assembly reveals a consistency of vision and a connected sense for the bare essentials of painterly composition. —JP