The CAC has just organized and opened a modestly sized show, The First Decade, which brings together key paintings of Sultan’s from the mid-1970s through the early 1980s. The exhibit, curated by Raphaela Platow, will be on display through May 17.
Inspired by minimalism but still attracted to the narrative possibilities of figuration, Sultan in that period developed a style that accommodated and carried forward both. He used then-unusual building and industrial materials — Linoleum, Masonite hardboard, tar, Spackle and plaster — instead of depending on oil paint and canvas. He then manipulated the surfaces — like woodcuts — to conjure ghostly images of urban Americana.
Read more about the exhibit, including Rosen's interview with Sultan, here.
