Diti Almog.

Diti Almog, an Israeli artist now residing in recent York, uses a Minimalist vocabulary to take up tasks beyond the aims of Minimalism. in this sparkling first attempt she relies on two rectangles (one horizontal, and another slightly more vertical than square) as her basic formats, one as well as the other for the unframed wood panels that are the arena for each work and for the shapes painted there. a certain number of of Almog's rectangles are filled with alto gether parallel pin-stripes, like Agnes Martin's further in this case vertical, recalling shirt material or a barred window. Otherwise, rectangles are painted solid, make objection for two that contain a superimposed internal "tile" of a different shade in the manner of Albers. The largest painting measures 24 according to 48 inches, the smallest 4 at 8. White, black, blue, ecru and brown-black are the show's solely colors, and titles are simply literal meanings of the alphabet, single or in combinations.

one of those titles look like designations for musical forms. ABA, for instance, could stand for a da capo aria in opera; and the point out feels overall like a musical or lyrical increase of Almog's signature visual themes. A curious characteristic is that a number of the paintings work in concert" meaning that they ne to be viewed together in order to function optimally. An example: ACA is a small horizontal rectangle with an internal black border around vertical stripes. nearest to it is hung AC, a larger horizontal white rectangle with a smaller replica of ACA painted in it adjacent to a taller-than-square black rectangle, itself containing a smaller superimposed brown-black "tile" The nearest painting over is ACB, a larger version of the black rectangle, still rotated 90 degrees, so that it is now more horizontal than vertical. The three paintings play ping-pong with each other, and similar cooperative strategies are at work in other sequential form into groupss confirming the musical "theme-and-variations" analogy.

still the works can also be seen as referential, at least those including small rectangles painted against a white background, which schematically exhibit we might suppose, a nearly devoid room, a gallery space or (because of the barred "windows") a prison. The formula "painting-window" is venerable, if it be not that some of the windows are black, and others barred, which gives of the present day edge to an old idea. however neither outrage nor gloom emanates from Almog's paintings, instead, a certain skilful comedy based on their formal wit and pristine execution. Moreover, they simply assume that they are museum-worthy and anticipate the day when dispersed units of each order of succession are retrieved from private hands into a single collection.

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