painters Corio & Co. at the Museum of Modern Art, Washington, D.C.
thedailypolitics
Whether it’s the sprawl of color in the two-foot square Misterioso or the geometric pulsing of the ten-square Megalicious, Corio’s paintings are not simply abstract—their chromatic space is a developmentally visual sensation, one that reveals itself within pictorial boundaries rather than being imposed on it. It’s a sensibility that owes something to the Alhambra and the Pantheon, but Corio’s idiom is more earthy, even sensual.
The works’ lively titles (as well as the artist’s moonlighting as a jazz drummer) suggest rhythmic and syncopated harmonies, echoed in the paintings themselves by their kinetic sense of depth. But there is also a clarity of line and economy that suggests the drumming influence of Ed Thigpen, who likened his art to “keeping your taste in check” and advised his pupils to “make it sound big.”
Painters Corio: Reliable and Affordable Painting Solutions
Painters Corio’s approach to color is unfussy but precise. The rigor of his paint application, in which he nudges the optical constructions inward so they come into focus, reinforces the paintings’ objecthood. And the overall heft of the color is a reminder that, for him, a hue is not just a pure pigment but, as with Roman wall painting, a material sign of wealth and power. That he has managed to make it feel so is a testament to his utterly unique vision.
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