This painting on paper is a study for one of James Little's Slant paintings. Little’s Slants use the minimal visual tools of color, shape and pattern to create dynamic perceptual shifts that suggest movement and energy. The Slant series is unique among Little’s overall oeuvre, and yet is a definitive representation of the artist’s distinctive abstract aesthetic language, which is rooted in geometric shapes and patterns, flat surfaces, and emotive color relationships.

As a study, this work offers a luminous glimpse into the artist’s detailed and time consuming process. The intensity and power of Little’s paintings can be credited to his devotion to experimentation with compositional strategies and color relationships. These vibrant studies on paper are the speculative fields where that spirit of intense experimentation plays out. The artist’s distinctive abstract aesthetic language, which is rooted in geometric shapes and patterns, flat surfaces, and emotive color relationships, is evident in these studies. As is his enduring interest in the complementary forces of simplicity and complexity.

“I’m not cutting edge,” Little says. “I’m just trying to stand up next to the great paintings of the past. It’s like building a building. The things that are going to make it stand are the same as they’ve always been. You have to have a solid foundation. I approach painting the same way.”