Patricia Fabricant: Open Portals and Other Dimensions — New York Artists Equity Association

By Michael Gormley

Artists move through life drifting in and out of hyper sentient states---their eyes and hearts wistfully, if not hypnotically, drawn to that numinous point in the far distance that alludes most of us--and defies verbal description. Less armored then their normy fellows, artists are inured to the filtering layers of acculturated suppression that block out nature’s more dubious visions and vibrations. These glimpses through the veil are at first unexpected and unwanted--like surprise visits from wayward cousins, or worse, like the shades that spook our sleep.

And yet, brushes with the sublime are pretty common; most folks experience a whiff of the divine at numerous points in their day --but either wisely ignore these cameos, or quickly forget them, which isn’t a half-bad response when one wants to simply get on with the dull business of daily living. Artists however, who chose to live an examined life, are unable, or unwilling, to forget or suppress glimpses of a higher order. On the contrary, they begin to send out invites. Said exposure however comes with peril; what is needed is a type of portal or container into which the barrage can be channeled and contained--- lest a seeming madness prevail. For artists that is art-- specifically the creation of talismanic objects or the enactment of rituals that capture and corral, through aesthetic ordering, the intransigent sensations and impulses that are not of human origin.

Smiling with the type of smile that could jump start a relationship, Patricia Fabricant recalls that, “I was always an imaginative kid, you know, the one that had lots of noisy imaginary friends over for tea parties.” It follows that the first painting she remembers seeing is the Met’s “Joan of Arc” by the 19th century French Realist Jules Bastien-Lepage. “It wasn’t so much that Joan seemed about to walk off the canvas that grabbed me”, Fabricant notes, “though that effect was remarkable to me both then and now, it was the narrative --what she was experiencing---the surreal intensity of a vision calling out to her.”

Jules Bastien-Lepage, “Joan of Arc,” 1879, Oil on Canvas, From the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Collection

“The artist’s effort to make the invisible visible had a tremendous impact on me” Fabricant concludes. “Conversely, the painting led me to look more at abstraction and process driven practices, which I felt offered a far more genuine echo of spiritual realm. Early in my career the artists that provided those important signposts were Hilma af Klint, Emma Kunz, and Kandinsky; later I was inspired by my contemporaries Dan Zeller, Lori Ellison, and James Siena.

Fabricant notes that she knew she was an artist “from the time I could hold a pencil”. She also displayed a precocious talent for visual ordering --an intuitive aesthetic that she subsequently parlayed into a successful graphic design practice. “On the surface our world can appear chaotic”, she notes, “I’m just able to see and foreground the divine order that’s already there”. Her success however was a mixed blessing and she states, “…during my 20s and early 30s I was designing full-time and had little time and energy to pursue my studio work. I was able to get back to my studio when I started freelancing. Recently, I returned to designing full-time, but I’m absolutely committed to painting, and have learned how to keep my studio practice integrated into my daily life. It’s not always easy, but I’m managing.”

When the present pandemic dictated stay at home work, Fabricant moved her studio to her kitchen --- the room with the best light. She started a series of small paintings using gouache on panel. She adds, “I like the media’s flexibility and layering capability and the fact that I can work fast and feel productive even when my time and space is limited. I like working on panel, I prefer the solidity of the surface to canvas.”

The series is perhaps one of the strongest explorations to come out of Fabricant’s studio work--perhaps because they were created in spite of, and in response to, the terrifying episode we are attempting to push through. Offering a highly activated color field as a salubrious visionary space, these must-have gems recall the 1970s Pattern and Decorative movement promoted by the pioneer SoHo art dealer Holly Solomon who saw them as a celebratory and spiritually generous anecdote to the dry and deadly contagion of minimalism. Solomon’s prescient vision was spot on; soon after her discovery SoHo quietly abandoned its coldly conceptual installations in favor of richly hued expressionist works that evinced the hand as well as the heart---works that were unabashedly emotive, intuitive, and often stunningly beautiful.

Patricia Fabricant, “Untitled 040420” gouache on panel, 10 x 8 inches, 2020 — The first painting Fabricant made in her new home kitchen studio — Now available at the NYAE Spring Flash

Fabricant concurs, “I was blown away by MOCA’s recent exhibition ‘With Pleasure: Patten and Decoration in American Art’--it surveyed a movement that was largely female driven and informed by traditional ‘women’s work’ materials. The art spoke to me on a visceral level--like life itself. The work was egalitarian, materially expressive, and unapologetic in its embrace of beauty. This is astonishing to me given that these works were created at a time when the art world was male dominated and focused on showing work that was intellectually dense and heavily dependent on wall text to convey meaning. The questioning and assumptions upended by that movement remain vital to this day as we continue to struggle with issues of diversity and access coming up against privilege and social hierarchies.”

In keeping with the spirit of Pattern and Decoration movement, Fabricant’s recent work is a visual delight and infinitely accessible to all those that care to partake in its pleasures. She uses the word “weaving”, a purposeful reference to traditional women’s craft, when describing the intricate layers of paint she uses to build up the patterned surfaces. Creating a continuity within the larger context of her oeuvre, Fabricant has employed other iterations of “weaving” when creating other bodies of work, most notably, with her self-portraits. She adds, “I’ve been making self-portraits for the past three years and quite honestly just needed a break from looking at my face”. While working on that series, Fabricant literally began weaving two distinct portraits together, and explains, “to see what ‘third’ expression might be the result of blending the two”. She later began weaving her facial image with mandalas and flowers.

Patricia Fabricant, "020820,” Gouache on panel, 12” x 12”, 2020 — Now Featured in the WING online project space

Like most divine influxes that come out of nowhere and cannot be discounted, Fabricant’s new work has taken firm hold, “I started doing these small, intricate gouache abstractions on the side but they quickly took over and I haven’t stopped. They are dense and layered and patterned, and I’m using a very hot palette. The layering I’m doing right now feels like it grew out of the self-portrait weaving process, while also hearkening back to some of the vocabulary of my previous abstractions. In spite of everything I’m moving forward.”

The wistful smile and faraway glance returns, “I’m not sure where this series will lead--one never does, but I’m enjoying making them a lot”. I may want to make them larger when I return to my studio--when all this craziness ends”.

We hope so…and certainly need something to look forward to.

To view Patricia Fabricant’s virtual exhibition, Open Portals and Other Dimensions, visit the WING online project space or the show’s Artsy profile!