SIN TITULO / UNTITLED
oil on canvas
47.5 x 39 inches
Passion is immediately visible in the works of Panamanian artist Olga Sinclair. Sinclair is clearly a colorist and uses paint brilliantly. The title of the exhibition is “Saturation,” and true to that name, the paint soaks into these canvases from watery thin to impassionedly thick tones. Her palette is largely composed of luscious colors: imperial purple, violet, sable, fuchsia, crimson, and candy apple green. Each of her robust still lifes, of over-sized and sensual fruit, are composed of multiple layers that interact simultaneously.
Using broad sweeping strokes with those saturated colors, Sinclair forms enormous, overlapping planes alternating between transparency and opacity. This allows us to see through the layers of a painting, as if looking through glass. For added sensuality Sinclair drips paint, some ribbon-like, that seems to flow spontaneously, as if it knows just where to go. Then Sinclair draws powerful lines that intersect the picture plane in several directions, straight and crossed, giving the canvas an even greater sense of voluminous space. The lines knife through the various planes of the painting, increasing the distance from foreground to background, and adding a haunting rhythm to the visual chorus.