David Rhodes reviews Stephen Westfall: Crispy Fugue State at Lennon, Weinberg, Inc., New York, on view through July 29, 2016.

Rhodes writes: “Five medium-sized paintings in the rear of the gallery break with Stephen Westfall’s familiar practice… the structure of these newer works display a strongly asymmetrical and relational pictorial composition… There is also a faux comical undermining of seriousness, both in the titling of the show and in the deadpan paint surfaces. For a Modernist like Westfall, the strategy of linking high and low cultural narratives—constructivism and graphic signs—proves expedient in deflating grandiosity and productively opening influence to the vitality of quotidian environment. But originality is not dependent on novelty of technology and media. Westfall has achieved a singular style of painting that stands out for all the right reasons—it is compelling, arresting work—whilst not straying from already existing modes.”