Kim Squaglia’s paintings have a distinct sense of topography, created by the artist’s technique of separating layers of paint with coats of resin. Therefore, the sense of depth that at first appears to be an optical illusion, is not. Squaglia uses this technique to create works that span multiple historic references from Surrealism to midcentury modernism to dense patterned ornamentation. However, in the exhibition titled “Suspended” the Sacramento-based artist also maintains a consistent link between her abstract compositions and the organic world.
Squaglia’s most successful abstractions hover between biology and astronomy, hinting at worlds both micro- and macroscopic. Monochromatic works such as “Bon Vivant I” and “Bon Vivant II” have a mysterious, dreamlike quality. Delicate lines of paint create a sense of webbing across the surface, and appear to hover over the increasingly murky layers that recede into darkness. By contrast, the high-voltage color palette of “Volvere” and “Dirty Deeds II” that is set against a solid background draws attention to the geometry of the forms, bringing to mind hard-edge abstraction and modern design. The organic sensibility lurking in the depths of the “Bon Vivant” works takes an extroverted turn in Squaglia’s more ornamental works, such as “Siren,” where multi-colored petal-like patterns radiate ever outward.
Originally published in ArtScene (July/August 2013)