Craig Bandy is a modernist who follows in the line of Picasso, Klee, and Mondrian.  But consider his paintings alongside theirs, and the word "imitation" does not come to mind.  Rather, he combines his love of these masters with a sensibility that is distinctly of the 21st century.  His acrylics on canvas share with today's high-art graphic novels a distinct play and whimsy that simultaneously manages to focus intensely on a variety of illustrative techniques.  Stretches of color that vary meticulously from threadbare to deep impasto contain and are contained by detailed line work.  Figures vary from dominant forms to almost-overlooked complements that change the viewer's entire perspective on a given piece.  The recognizable, the literal, and the purely abstract dance together seamlessly.  Bandy labels his work "abstract anew," and surely we see something familiar that we haven't quite seen before.

Still only in his mid 30s, Bandy is gratified to find that his small-town beginnings have given way to a place in the New York art scene.