Leo Bates
Paintings and Pastels

Leo Bates installed large paintings of rhoplex and casein on canvas ranging in size from a 4′ square format to an 18′ rectangular format. The works were unframed and hung with grommets. In each work, colored lines formed rough equilateral triangles. Through layering, color, and the deliberately irregular appearance and alignment of the lines, he set up a tension between a “flat” reading of the image and one in which the image leaped into illusory space. All works shown, including a number of smaller pastels were variations on this basic scheme.

Excerpted from Brentano, R., & Savitt, M. (1981). 112 Workshop, 112 Greene Street: History, artists & artworks. New York: New York University Press.