Abstract Artist Gary Lang Explores Color and Shape at Ace Gallery Exhibit

Sandra Miska

Those who appreciate abstract art can head over to Beverly Hills to take in the unique and vibrant paintings of local artist “Gary Lang: Rising,” currently on view at Beverly Hills’ Ace Gallery. Lang is known for unique paintings that explore repetition and color and the Ace Gallery describes his works as “brilliant, nuanced and jarring.” A highlight of this exhibition is  “Tondos,” a group of circular paintings that are up to 13 feet in diameter and feature brightly colored circles, which, from a distance, appear to vibrate.

According to the Los Angeles Times, those who view Lang’s paintings should expect an experience to delights the senses: “Rather than dwarfing visitors, Lang’s paintings make the space around them feel as if it’s expanding. Your spirit does something similar, soaring beyond its regular bounds.” Lang himself creates his paintings with the intention to energize viewers. “…The process is ultimately a pleasure-driven meditation on accumulating and organizing energy, while investigating the potential of color,” the artist explained in the Ace Gallery catalog.

Gary Lang was born in 1950 in Ojai, CA. In 1975, he received not only an M.F.A. from Yale, but also a Fulbright/Hayes Travel and Research Grant that took him to Barcelona, where he created a pop-infused painted collage that he aptly titled, “Barcelona Painting.” After two years there, he relocated to New York but eventually returned home to Southern California, where he resides today. His works have been displayed in over 70 national and international solo shows in places as far away as Japan and the Netherlands.

Lang is married to fellow artist Ruth Pastine, with whom he has a son. Like her husband, Pastine, a New York native, is an abstract painter who experiments with colors. Lang and Pastine have previously had their works displayed in tandem at the Ace Galley.

“Gary Lang: Rising” is on view at Ace Gallery Beverly Hills Sept. 10 – Nov. 12.