For her sixth show at the gallery, Ruth Root turns her formal investigation of abstract painting into a study of bricolage and balance. Fabric-wrapped slabs become the surprising basis of support for shaped Plexiglas elements bearing enamel and spray paint. The edges of the patterned fabric (created by Root) are folded and looped around the hanging Plexiglas sheets; they are then secured to the wall with nails through industrial grommets. There’s a keen sense of eye-popping color and improvisation here, both in the fabric constructions and in the Plexiglas paintings, which contain passages of hard-edge along with looser applications of abstract motifs.
Pictured: Ruth Root, Untitled, 2014-15, fabric, Plexiglas, enamel paint and spray paint, 104 ½ by 63 ¼ inches. Courtesy Andrew Kreps, New York.