Maruska’s Creations

Art reviewer David Pagel asserted (Art Reviews, Dec. 19) that artist Joseph Maruska’s painting “takes contemporary culture into account. Various types of print-making, from crude rubbings to sophisticated photographic reproductions, take shape across the surfaces of his panels.”

While I certainly appreciate the many positive things Pagel had to say about Maruska’s work, this particular passage has provoked some concern among the gallery management, the artist and several of his prominent collectors.

If the statement is intended literally, it is factually inaccurate. Maruska uses oil and acrylic on Masonite; any divergence definitely does not extend to print-making or any form of mechanical reproduction or technique thereof. If, on the other hand, the statement is intended as a descriptive device, it is misleading. Maruska’s modernism is influenced by Rothko; to insist apologetically on his alleged post-industrialism is to trivialize the vigorous dedication of a young artist to classic standards of beauty.

PATRICIA CORREIA

Patricia Correia Gallery

Santa Monica