Night Shape

Edmond Casarella

Edmond Casarella was a young artist at the height of the American Abstract Expressionist evolution when he created “Night Shape,” a large-format woodcut and paper-relief. As was usual for the experimental printmaker, he went where color and form led him, forming a composition that is at once intriguingly precarious and perfectly balanced.

An assemblage of lights appears to drift through the night sky or a night-darkened ocean surface, with a deep blue field dotted by rich cobalt, lavender, pale yellow, and uninked negative space. Casarella seems to harness these elements at random, only to build a structure that vibrates with harmonious movement.