Empty Pages, #10

In the series of paintings entitled "Empty Pages," Kevin Finklea paints translucent acrylic panels with layers of color and then a final layer of white. Finklea integrates the presence of the wall into the work by exploiting the clarity of the acrylic support. The square of paint only occupies a portion of the surface, leaving an empty space in which the wall behind the work is visible. The wall thus becomes a second picture plane and the shadows cast by the painting's opaque and translucent elements become part of the work as well. Finklea has used a variety of colors including blue, green, and bright red as an undersurface for the white. Both the white and the acrylic support function as filters in which we are required to look through the painting, not simply at it - in the first instance, we look through white to see a whisper of color; in the second instance, we look through the support, observing the wall behind the work. The in-between quality of the acrylic support - it is at once clear and slightly opaque - creates a sense of curiosity and wonder in the viewer.