Measured Abstraction
Paintings by John Foster
All paintings 20 x 16 inches, acrylic on canvas
This new work is intentionally without spectacle, emphasizing order, repetition, and restraint. Each painting begins with a grid of 2” x ½” units, developed as stabilizing architecture to hold intentionally muted color. Throughout the development of each work, I am continually testing the compositions to see how much variation it can hold before it dissolves, or in some cases, self-destruct.
I employ a softened symbolism, cross-axes, circles, diamonds, and arcs which appear and reappear. There is ritual at work in this series, each painting beginning with the exact same grid/format. After that, each painting becomes variations of his visual language of rhythm, emphasis, and density of color. References to textiles and quilting are especially pronounced, where modular construction and repetition serve both functional and expressive ends. My process is slow and methodical, using flat color, glazes and metallic hues through repeated applied passes.
My work invites sustained looking, grounded in balance, repetition, and a quiet authority of systems that hold, rather than overwhelm, the attention of the viewer. Together, this series proposes an alternative to spectacle—one grounded in balance, attentiveness, and the quiet power of sustained observation.
