Shar Coulson

Shar Coulson Press

Southwest Contemporary

TRACES presents a magnetic interplay between emotional vulnerability and artistic fortitude

June 30, 2023 Press Release

T R A C E S Finding the flow between Fragility and Fortitude

ESSAY by Jana Branch

How, from nothing, do we get something? The fundamental aporia for philosophy is also a creative quandary. What does it take to break the silence of the blank canvas? What impulse will make itself known there? What gesture will leave its trace? What, without form, without color, without voice, will erupt from an elsewhere to here? How does a blank canvas become a statement that speaks?

Shar Coulson’s latest work evokes this question. At first, a stark line, liquid running on the canvas or crayon following a line her mind-body demands. Lines that branch and multiply, finding aim in the expanse. Some of these are layered with color. Intersecting shapes emerge. A half-recognized form appears among the fragile trajectories. Something takes hold.

Coulson is known for abstract pieces marked by bold color and energetic flow. Each canvas is a world unto itself, with a palette that echoes the vivid tones of the natural world. Her vision is confident. Its complexity rewards a closer look.

Her latest work is something else—no less complex, no less rewarding, but somehow more. The aperture between what might be and what is has widened. This work is more tender and more expansive—what I think of as the appearance of a primal trace.

Passages of color interrupt bare areas filled only with mark-making gestures. These layered shapes, a trademark of previous works, are made different, side-by-side with the vulnerability of a line. Does the confidence now seem more like bravado? Does the fragile line suddenly seem more assured?

The developed shapes and stark lines are sometimes gracefully entwined, a comfort. In another corner of the work, the juxtaposition recalls the feeling of a compound fracture, the ache and dull shock of a broken bone showing where smooth flesh should be. This isn’t ideal. It’s real. We all break, and sometimes we heal.

The dynamic between these contrasting entities on the canvas hints at a before, after, and yet to come. We explore a history. We are present. And after our eyes leave the work, it may follow us into the future, provoking dreams.

In the artist’s process, the trace underlies and precedes all. In the finished work, the line’s skeletal beauty persists with as much staying power as the pull and thrust of the developed shapes. Development, heroic and charismatic on its surface, is always layered with vulnerability. That vulnerability is, in fact, its source of resilience and strength.

We find ourselves with a new view of that mature, richly entangled paradox. The color captivates, while curiosity follows the trace. Where is that line headed? It’s not background. It’s foundation, but not only. How beautiful it is, elemental and unadorned.

Jana Branch Victor, Montana January 21, 2023

ORGANIC. INTUITIVE. ABSTRACT PAINTINGS. | CHICAGO ARTIST SHAR COULSON. | IG: shar_coulson

SELECTED BLOGS

Blog Feature - 12 Questions: Shar Coulson