Jennifer Langhammer '89 • Richard Nocera '92—Circulus Retro

Nocera’swork is initially additive, but an element of change endures in the finished work; the tar ground he paints upon effects the color of the white paint during its drying stage, which can take years to fully cure. He prepares a group of twenty canvases with tar or a painted ground as receptacles for a “strike” of a paint-loaded trowel. Before he paints, he readies himself by trying to remove any preconceived ideas about what the painting will be, and then he adds a single but varied gesture to his painting surface. Over time, these markings change as the surface of the painting and the material of the paint age together. The paintings with a tar ground, for example, interact with the Titanium White “strikes” to cause shifts in the luminosity of the color. Nocera’spaintings were finished just two weeks before this exhibition was mounted. The Titanium White will continue to be effected by the leaching of the tar, as the tar slowly imbues the white pigment with its coloration. He works to reduce his influence over the images he creates. “The impact I have on the material is less important than the material’s impact on me…It is really hard to approach painting without having any intentions! There is deliberate in unintentional. I decide what to leave in, and I decide what to take out, and I decide to allow accidents along the way…It’s tricky not to overthink…it’s more like I’m letting go—of preconceived ideas of self—and in doing so, allowing space for something new to come. To be present is to realize you’re empty.”