Image: Creative Art Gallery, Saint Louis
Rather than beginning with a fixed image, Szot develops each work through adding, obscuring, removing and revisiting elements of the composition.
High Looks is marked by electric chromatic density, while Arcadia, the largest work in the show, introduces an expansive, gold-toned surface; August Complex brings a more concentrated arrangement of color and form.
In works such as Arcadia and Wonders Greatly Reduced, reflective surfaces are not decorative effects but sites of pressure, interruption and light.
Large fields of color are interrupted by fragments of charcoal and drawing, buried passages of color, scraped paint and weathered edges.
Szot also discusses discovering Egon Schiele’s work and deciding to pursue art after working as a computer programmer.
