Arts & Sciences PROJECTS is pleased to present Crisscrosses + Cross Outs, an exhibition of paintings by Brooklyn-based artist Rob de Oude, on view from June 9 to June 26, 2011.

Opening reception: Thursday, June 9, 6-8pm

Rob de Oude’s paintings exist in the interspace between methodology and intuition, between applied mathematics and rendered curiosity. De Oude’s paintings are composed entirely through the systematic layering, at varied and formulaic intervals, of straight lines of paint across stretched canvas or wood panel. These lines, like the interwoven lattice of tapestry or a God’s Eye, intersect at various points across the picture plane. Our eye reads these random yet regularly spaced points in concert, optically contributing to the work by visually completing the forms that are suggested therein; octagons, diamonds or in the case of this current body of work, crosses and cross outs.

The works in Crisscrosses + Cross Outs share the central compositional element of a cross or letter X, which is indicated as much by paint applied as by underpainting revealed, a wonderful interplay between positive and negative shape. Intimating playful tic-tac-toe gestures, prohibitory X marks, and the placid movements of the windmills of the Dutch artist’s homeland, these shapes vibrate from background into fore, disintegrating just as others come sharply into focus.

All of these readings can be considered “correct” as the abstract artist stakes his claim less in the objectified end result of his work and more in the integrity and execution of his process. By applying the same set of mark-making and interval spacing to each section of his canvas, de Oude commits to a follow through that combines the intuitive with the systematic, and takes an idea or theory through rigorous and exacting movements into actualized reality. The resultant totemic work straddles the line between art and optical science, with a process of discovery that is often the same for the viewer as it is for the artist himself.

A native of Holland, Rob de Oude lives and paints in Brooklyn, NY. Initiator and founding member of Camel Art Space in Brooklyn, de Oude has shown in the Netherlands and New York. He has participated in the Fountain Art Fair (New York and Miami) and has been covered by the NY Post, L Magazine and Sculpture Magazine.