My interest in systems and structure within a grid format is a systematic exploration of a basic structure and its subsequent construction and deconstruction. The explorations are more than a formal exercise. The repeated manipulation of the space within the edges of the pictorial plane means that the work is not just a painting but becomes a support or object unto itself as well.
These paintings represent these specific qualities, using fairly restricted formal means. The work’s ability to express a great deal with limited means testifies to the power of the language within the surface plane. These works are built on an evolving set of interrelations, rather than just a system of theme and variations. It is a meditation on more than just the formal exercise – not planned, but with each work created in response to the previous and as a series of a whole.
Although abstracted and set out in formal terms/language – these works have a systematic mathematical quality (referred to in the titles and the date of completion). Beyond the rigors of the geometry, the various media or materials activate the surface, differentiating each painting from another, as well.
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Jean Wolff was Born in Detroit, Michigan and studied fine arts at the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit and at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, receiving a BFA in studio arts. She then attended Hunter College, CUNY in New York, graduating with an MFA in painting and printmaking. She’s since had group and solo exhibits in various galleries in New York City and internationally, her art appears in numerous magazines, and she is part of the artistic community of Westbeth in Manhattan.
