Rudolf Baranik: Words from Twenty-Five Years

Born in Lithuania, Baranik arrived in the U.S. in 1938 ostensibly to study art, but in fact his parents sent him here more out of fear of the coming war than concern for their son's career. Baranik has flourished in his adopted country, and his work has long been informed by a concern for social justice and a drive to make social realities resonate symbolically through art. His best works are characterized by lush, numinous black fields, articulated by orbs, compartments and delicate glowing veils of color. In obscurantist prose, Kuspit attempts to isolate the metaphysically political aspects of Baranik's pieces, and he discusses the artist's lifelong political activism, but rare sensibility and an ineffable passion are the real stuff of these paintings. The political content of Baranik's work is less captivating than its elemental intoxicating beauty. (August)