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    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: James Little, Recognizable Difference, 2016
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: James Little, Recognizable Difference, 2016
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: James Little, Recognizable Difference, 2016
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: James Little, Recognizable Difference, 2016

    James Little USA, b. 1952

    Recognizable Difference, 2016
    Raw pigment on canvas
    33 1/4 x 41 1/2 x 1 1/2 in
    84.5 x 105.4 x 3.8 cm
    7967
    Enquire
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    Further images

    • (View a larger image of thumbnail 1 ) James Little, Recognizable Difference, 2016
    • (View a larger image of thumbnail 2 ) James Little, Recognizable Difference, 2016
    • (View a larger image of thumbnail 3 ) James Little, Recognizable Difference, 2016
    • (View a larger image of thumbnail 4 ) James Little, Recognizable Difference, 2016
    View on a wall
    This painting belongs to James Little’s Slant series, which mobilize horizontally stacked columns of intersecting diagonal colorfields. Little’s Slants use the minimal visual tools of color, shape and pattern to...
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    This painting belongs to James Little’s Slant series, which mobilize horizontally stacked columns of intersecting diagonal colorfields. 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.

    The Slant series is also part of a larger series of paintings Little makes by layering raw, handmade pigments on canvas. Little creates these works slowly, applying multiple layers of pigment with small rollers until he achieves the desired the purity of his handcrafted hues. It is important to Little that the painting is allowed to express small imperfections on the surface, such as scratches, raised ridges between the colorfield, or detritus encased in the paint, which serve to show the human presence of the artist's hand.

    The colors in the work shift dramatically according to the lighting, seeming to almost soak up the light in a bright space, and seeming in low light to glow.

    While developing his unique position within contemporary abstraction, Little has devoted decades to rigorous academic study of color theory, pictorial design, and painting techniques. His practice embodies the complementary forces of simplicity and complexity.

    “I’m not cutting edge,” he 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.”
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    Related artworks
    • James Little, Black Star, 2015
      James Little
      Black Star, 2015
      Oil and wax on linen
      72 x 72 x 1 1/2 in
      182.9 x 182.9 x 3.8 cm
    • James Little, Raw Power, 2020
      James Little
      Raw Power, 2020
      Oil and wax on linen
      72 x 72 x 1 1/2 in
      182.9 x 182.9 x 3.8 cm
    • James Little, Gorilla, 2019
      James Little
      Gorilla, 2019
      Oil and wax on linen
      72 x 72 x 1 1/2 in
      182.9 x 182.9 x 3.8 cm
    • James Little, Cubist Rendezvous, 2019
      James Little
      Cubist Rendezvous, 2019
      Oil and wax on linen
      72 x 72 x 1 1/2 in
      182.9 x 182.9 x 3.8 cm
    • James Little, Jump Start, 2016
      James Little
      Jump Start, 2016
      Raw pigment on canvas
      33 1/4 x 41 1/2 x 1 1/2 in
      84.5 x 105.4 x 3.8 cm
    • James Little, Checkered Past, 2017
      James Little
      Checkered Past, 2017
      Raw pigment on canvas
      33 1/4 x 41 1/2 x 1 1/2 in
      84.5 x 105.4 x 3.8 cm
    • James Little, Decoy, 2019
      James Little
      Decoy, 2019
      Oil and wax on linen
      72 x 72 x 1 1/2 in
      182.9 x 182.9 x 3.8 cm

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