The title “Contrapuntal” comes from the world of music and roughly means “counterpoint,” or the art of composing two independent melodies distinct from one another but bound into a single harmony.
Working in the Color Field tradition, artist Jill Nathanson pours translucent layers of pigmented polymer and acrylic onto panel, one color settling over another creating different hues from the interacting colors. Before she paints, Nathanson composes her studies from cut pieces of theatrical lighting gels, translucent colored films that change the appearance of a stage light.
“Contrapuntal” celebrates a recent gift to the University from the artist and Berry Campbell Gallery and is the seed of an entire year of exploration. The museum will build a year of programming around this one painting to invite as many interdisciplinary conversations as possible, weaving together music, physics, materials science and beyond.