Stimmung
Sliding Door Gallery presented a solo show by Naomi Salzman, featuring numerous large and small oil paintings which impart stimmung, the “essential spirit” of nature. The relationships between shape, form, color, time, and space inform Salzman’s works, along with influences from physics, mathematics, quantum mechanics, and poetry. She pulls from the complex structural fabric of the cosmos, with a Gaian awareness of reality. These works present conglomerations of color images and abstractions, which reveal an understanding of science and spirit in nature. Hence, her paintings are intended to evoke stimmung within the viewer.
When Salzman began painting in the late seventies, she found inspiration in Wassily Kandinsky’s idea of stimmung [pronounced shti-mu (ug)], which he defined as the “essential spirit” of nature expressed through art. In this, her first solo show in many years, Salzman’s works extend beyond her early influence and further a philosophy of spirit from within.