Daytona Beach (1-5), 1996
It is a pleasure to see the landscapes and smaller works of Alex Katz, who is largely known for his portraits; they are imbued with the same stillness and inquiry into form and color that informs his more famous works. While not entirely escaping representation, the daubs of paints and etched lines are looser – and call more attention to themselves as materials. In Daytona Beach (1-5), 1996, a simple painted gesture progresses through a series of five aquatints of deepening hues. The first two plates are repeated, creating a moment of pause, before the brushstroke begins to increase in force, capturing the swelling intensity of an Atlantic wave (Greenfield Sacks Gallery, Bergamot).