Phil Binaco at Linda Durham

Across the surface of Phil Binaco's "Maenads Paintings," 12 monochromatic 30-inch-square panels of natural and synthetic resin, are delicately etched vertical lines, broken in places to accent their rhythm with rectilinear voids. The lines have been tinted with graphite, mica, carbon, ultramarine, violet and indigo, as one would ink a plate. Below lie layers of the waxy medium. The residue and shadows of this arduous process invite the viewer on a meditative journey into a softly modulating realm of light and shadow, order and flux.

Initially, Binaco's compositions appear to be uniform planes or squares clearly divided into two or three columns of varying widths. As one approaches the images, the surfaces lighten. As the viewer changes position or the light shifts, the works seem to breathe. Stand directly before them and the compositions nearly disappear, giving way to pulsing bars and voids. As images, the "Maenads" evoke the mathematical and musical allusions of a player-piano roll, while the interior shadows and reflective mica contribute a smoky element to the pictures' rather romantic feel.

But the "Maenads" are not primarily pictorial; they are phenomenological. Binaco's work is often compared to that of his friend Agnes Martin. Geometry and an interest in meditative abstractions are the logical points of comparison.

Binaco's phenomena rely on the relationship between the methodical incisions of the stylus, the nebulous flow of shadows through the work, and the reflective pigment across it. Shadows in the depths of Maenads X, XI and XII vie with the linear pattern on their surfaces, while shimmering mica disrupts the geometry of Maenads I and II. Variations to the works' appearance caused by light and movement are echoed in the gentle irregularities that animate the surfaces and depths of these objects.

The final step in creating the "Maenads Paintings" was to allow the medium to set in the desert sun outside Binaco's New Mexico studio. Balancing the relation between the infinitude of space and sun with human action shapes life in the desert. By using the sun to finish these images, the artist introduces some of the character of that life into his work.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Brant Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group