Lawrence Cromwell
Freak Out, 2008
Oil and wax on board
36” x 48” x 12”

Lawrence Cromwell
Tin Man, 2006
Oil and wax on board
48” x 60” x 12”

Lawrence Cromwell
Make it Bigger

April 27, 2010 through July 25, 2010

At its most historical and elemental level, Lawrence Cromwell’s work is a descendent of abstract Surrealism, of the work of artists like Juan Miro and André Masson. When Cromwell begins his paintings, he often makes circles or draws objects or writes out words that come to mind. This is an automatic drawing/writing technique developed in the early twentieth century by the Surrealist artists in order to connect with the unconscious. For Cromwell, this early imagery leads him to a stream of associated images and words that emerge in a variety of ways in his paintings. It is an intuitive method of working and one that can suggest narrative structures as well as lead to a series of mutated forms. Cromwell states that his work has evolved out of an interest in themes of accumulation and repetition and that it is related to the notion of cataloging—the classification of forms, shapes, and various avenues or paths. Through this activity he examines issues of scale, transparency, density, and proximity. Drawing is an essential element in his work, and he considers his paintings to be a form of painted drawings. Cromwell also creates related animations and mobiles.

Cromwell thinks of his work as “a dark and sardonic roller coaster ride that twists, pulses, and stretches out in an intuitive and self-defining relationship of form.” He further comments that he is interested in “the space between thing and non-thing, idea and thought, work and play.” He sees his work as an ever-changing meditation upon the “tangle and chaotic pulse of consciousness that swings from the poignant to the prurient,” where “strings, loops and drops of thought intertwine in an associative play.” Cromwell borrows both stylistically and symbolically from low as well as high art, from art history and from contemporary culture. When addressing themes of domestic anxiety, consumption, and accumulation, he sees an intersection with the “transient and dematerialized expressions of repressions and ego.” As viewers who enter a gallery full of his paintings, animations, and mobiles, we experience a magical world of the imagination depicted in gloriously rich color.