American artist Ian Magargee extends the limits of art’s most rudimentary aspects with his relief-based paintings. Upon viewing his work, the spectator is compelled to consider the fundamental elements of art, those being spatial arrangement, line, geometry, and color. Despite his admiration for Kandinsky and the Abstract Expressionists of the twentieth century, Magargee’s work can be considered a bold, contemporary expansion of the De Stijl movement. His ability to further abstract the use of simple geometric shapes, lines and bold colors enables comparison to the likes of Piet Mondrian and Theo von Doesburg as well as Kandinsky.
However, what truly distinguishes Magargee’s work is his incorporation of sculpture, which allows his relief paintings to interact with the prevailing space, casting shadows within and beyond the compositions’ thresholds. His approach relies on intricate sculptural supports that become the medium for saturated bands and planes of various hues. The intricacy of these supports is palpable in the seemingly kinetic fluctuations of physical gravity and mass that exist within his remarkable compositions.