absent in this work is a sense of struggle and  without struggle there are no large surprises.  At some point De Bruycker will need to choose between the comfort of beauty and the risk of failure to push beyond that safety zone.

We last reviewed this artist�s work in a May 2000 solo show in this same gallery. So how much differs after four years? Fonseca�s changes have been slow and subtle.  Begin with the similarities as defined by the forms, color and paint handling. The overall effect now, as then, is somewhat graphic and process driven.  As paintings they still bear some resemblance to woodcut block prints. Fonseca keeps to a basic set of forms and colors and the criticism for this work remains the same as before: what is wanted are more peaks and valleys of experience.

Caio Fonseca at Paul Kasmin Gallery

Having said that, among the changes in this work is a different sense of visual rhythm.  Overall the forms are smaller then before, more uniform and spread more evenly across the canvas. Color also shifts a bit to become more thematic and does not stray to far from the primaries with a range of red hues predominately featured. As to space, Fonseca establishes a curious figure/ground relationship that is more ambiguous than before.  The small shapes look as though they should be the figures on the ground but they also function as �holes� in the picture plane that reveal a whole

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Dirk De Bruycker at Lemmons Contemporary

Caio Fonseca at Paul Kasmin Gallery

Caio Fonseca at Paul Kasmin Gallery

other world underneath. It is this indecisive relationship that provides these paintings with a subtle edginess and rescues them from the effects of too much process.

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