HARRY NADLER 1930-1990

HARRY NADLER, who lived and worked in New York and New Mexico, arrived in New York City in 1962, some ten years after the heyday of Abstract Expressionism. He absorbed the paintings of his predecessors, adapting their motivating ideas in a search for meaning in his own work. After immersing himself in the sensuousness of paint quality and the richness of color relationships—as exemplified by Paul Cezanne, Archile Gorky, Richard Diebenkorn, and others—he found a greater need for geometric structure in his paintings. Throughout his career, he combined this sensitivity of paint handling with geometry in order to create his unique vision of formal power and light. His work is represented in major museum collections and galleries throughout America and Europe.

All my paintings are made up of the PHYSICAL: the act of painting, the craft, the process; the INTELLECTUAL: ideas, organization, spatial conditions; the INTUITIVE: expressive quality which is fluid and always changing. Immersed in this activity, can I find metaphors for the transcendent?

Notes for a talk by Harry Nadler, delivered at Sena Gallery East, Santa Fe, N.M. September 1, 1989