Riptide

Using the geometric vocabulary found in architectural schemata, Bolt tries to create a dynamic tension between foreground and background, center and edge, inside and out. The dual spatial identities that the myriad forms have with one another create a visual riddle.

His goal as a painter is not to solve the riddle as much as pose it as a unique perceptual challenge. And it is that challenge that fulfills the experience one has with the painting.

Macyn Bolt is an American abstract painter. Using a visual language informed by geometric abstraction, he creates artworks that examine how color and form create shifts in visual perception. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, and upstate Pennsylvania.

Bolt works with acrylic paint on a variety of surfaces including canvas, wood panel, vinyl and paper. Using scrapers and palette knives, he builds up layers of paint, creating surfaces that seem both polished and hand made. He often strives to achieve heightened areas of contrast, exploring relationships between the painterly and the flat, the loose and the opaque. That contrast is further explored in relationships between colors. His process mirrors the balance he seeks between boldness and delicacy in his compositions.

Scale is also an important aspect of his work. His smaller works, which start around 16 x 15 inches, create opportunities for intimate viewer interactions. His larger works, which can range up to 84 x 180 inches, encompass viewers in a contemplative aesthetic space. The differences in size result in a range of perceptual experiences that is integral to the work.