For Simon Frost’s third exhibition at Peter Blum Gallery, Nimbus, the artist presents a major body of new work with over 80 drawings and monotypes rendered in gouache, ink, oil pastel, watercolor, silverpoint, graphite and graphite powder.

Frost’s work displays his ever-deliberate examination of mark making. His drawings explore complex repetition of a line or shape that grows into rhythmical, delicate and contemplative form. Circular vortexes, soft arcs, radiating and spilling forms predominate the works exhibited in Nimbus. He has typically worked on drawings for over a year, each day adding marks, a routine act that he practices to record that particular moment in his life. More recently, Frost’s marks have become larger, a result of utilizing new methods of application such as thumb prints and larger brushes, yet retain the same interest in routine acts of marking, repetition and circular form.

Frost was inspired to make the new group of monotypes in Nimbus after experimenting with the printing technique using found objects. The monotypes reiterate Frost’s interest in rigorous structure, yet here what appears at first as solid form reveals upon closer look the delicate surface and texture of the paper, created by Frost’s variations of pressure during the printing process. Frost works on a variety of specialty papers that range in thickness, and their inherent textures are often revealed through Frost’s marks. Frost will at times re-work the paper, rolling or hammering it, creating a battered rough texture.