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David Ostrowski Louisa Elderton

Simon Lee Gallery, London F: a letter with which so many words begin. Sounds formed by the tongue, falling from themouth in languages familiar and foreign. Let your mind wander into the imaginative potentialwrapped up in a lone F (whether you give an F or not). For David Ostrowski, apparently Fstands for Failure. Developed over the past several years, every painting in the artist’s ongoing“F series” is titled with this letter — failure flowing, knowing no bounds.A number of these workswere brought together for Ostrowski’s first solo show in the UK: “Yes, or Let’s Say No.”

YES OR LET‘S SAY NO, 2013. Installation view at Simon Lee Gallery, London. Courtesy the artist and SimonLee, London On first encounter, the formal qualities of modernism are immediately recalled by the paintings:minimalist planes, geometric forms and lines, monochrome palettes, sparse surfaces, reducedgestures. But upon closer inspection, each canvas reveals itself to be quietly characterful,brimming with idiosyncrasies, playfulness and impulsiveness.Rectangles of acid green, canaryyellow and burnt orange become imperfect frames bordering vast white planes. You couldalmost step into the empty space and explore the void. Indeed, one almost-bare canvas titled F(Auch die schönste Frau ist an den Füssen zu Ende, Elena’s feet) (2013) was marked with asingle filthy footprint — a high arch and five delicate toes teasing the surface and the viewer.With a number of the paintings suspended within the gallery, rather than being wall-mounted, anencounter with these abstract works had a physical resonance.Ostrowski’s materials include dirtthat has drifted onto pristine lacquered surfaces (reminiscent of cat hairs that might haphazardlycling to your clothing), spray paint, paper (torn, ripped and stained), cardboard and tape. Marksrhythmically repeat through the works; spontaneous gestures in cobalt blue recur, appearing astears in the canvas. In one, a hazy rectangle is sprayed in the top right-hand corner, a half-formed blue sky shimmering above, interrupted. As a whole, these elements combine to lend asense of human warmth to these paintings; they are rendered experimental, connected to thehand of their maker and imbued with an atmosphere of urban existence and its quotidianmatter.As exemplified by the exhibition’s title, the artist playfully juxtaposes concepts so thatsomething appears as nothing and yes equates to no — one title even cryptically states F (Athing is a thing in a whole which it’s not) (2013). Nothing feels fixed or reliable, everything ismalleable. So what else could F stand for?

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Flash Art March 10 2014

Flash Art March 10 2014