r is for rain: Charline von Heyl

"Defenster 2", 2004. By Charline von Heyl

"The exhibition also offers a few representatives of past trends made current. One example is the German-born New York painter Charline von Heyl, the show's token abstract expressionist. Von Heyl is gritty; her fire can be recognized immediately in her paintings. Defenster 2 (2004) unleashes a fluid tempest in rust-colored paint, an unpleasant hue that signals decay, as though the canvas had been left out in the rain. Hidden among the sweeping painted lines is a pair of pale peach-toned human legs. Barely visible, this remnant of a painted figure makes the work seem fresh. This hidden element, a mysterious shadow, implicates von Heyl as a painter grappling with the desire to paint the representational and finally being overcome by the nihilistic and violent impulse of abstraction." - from "A New Lease on Painting" by Nicole Davis, artnet.com