New Works Featured by Hoffman

Jill Hoffman is showing about a dozen new works through May 15 at Katherine Butler Gallery at 1943 Morrill Street, Towles Court. These works continue her use of the grid as a foundation for exploration. The most substantial are on a 300lb-weight paper. The works are very much about her experience with the medium on this ground and some of the titles like 605 red squares and 465 squares give clues to the construct of the works. Hoffman approaches each sheet with a different concept and she hand mixes all the colors from "scratch." Davey's Grid is actually two sheets framed separately. Four or five strokes of paint are placed within each square. In one sense these recall the organized chaos you might see in a distant aerial view of a city like Manhattan. In another sense the work is elegant, formal and balanced. It is about control and freedom. Her other work in the show in charcoal and pastel breaks free from the grid and is more about process. There are interesting passages in these however, some of the areas appear unresolved. A colorful work called Growth recalls some of the obsessive work of Paul Klee. And the viewer needs to study this work from less than 12 inches away to appreciate the complex interweaving of the medium. A standout in the group of works is Green Grid that looks like it was painted using a spinach soufflé. The paint rises up from the 300lb paper and satisfies us with every glance urging us to consume more and more. Mark Ormond for the Pelican Press,  29 April 2004