by Kimberly Chun
James Kennedy | ATLAAS, 2015 | Acrylic polymer on incised eucalyptus masonite | 64.5 × 76.5 inchesLike “perfect” and “curated,” “continuum” feels like one of the more overused cultural catchwords of the past decade, bandied about to convey a continuous series or the interconnected nature of things.
New York painter James Kennedy’s abstractions, however, seem to earn the word, the title of his first solo show at Dolby Chadwick Gallery up through Aug. 29, with their interwoven, labyrinthine fields of form and line.
Layering dilutions and cutting into large pieces of eucalyptus Masonite, Kennedy ventures forth without drafts, plans or reference materials, building up shades of gray or blue into studies of tone and connecting the lines as if they were a kind of puzzle. Works like ATLAAS map a landscape that moves to a beat reminiscent of Abstract Expressionism and Cubism.— Kimberly Chun
James Kennedy: Continuum: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. Through Aug. 29. Dolby Chadwick Gallery, 210 Post St., suite 205, S.F. (415) 956-3560.