Formally, this work is situated in the largely abandoned sector of expressionist painting which, oddly enough, is the very thing that renders these paintings relevant. Young's unabashed embrace of beauty within the reductive arena is a bold statement in the face of a near universal stampede to employ images of appropriated digital-pop where importance is measured in the degree of ironic reference. Confronted with a nearly solid black canvas, for example, the viewer is stunned (or even relieved) to be offered the opportunity to revel in the subtleties of reflection vs. matte, or tiny hints of color leaking through to the surface. The sheer subtlety of the work appears as a renewed challenge for eyes attuned to a variety of super-stimulated visual information.
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