Torkwase Dyson's "Seeing in Blue" at Pace Gallery Proves She Is a Painter

At Pace Gallery, Torkwase Dyson showcases "Seeing in Blue," featuring thirteen artworks, including a diptych and a triptych. The 53-year-old artist, originally from Chicago and now residing in Beacon, N.Y., studied painting at Yale under Mel Bochner, a pioneer in text painting. Although she is renowned for her installations of black metal boxes and arcs, her three-dimensional constructions resemble architectural drawings more than traditional sculptures. Dyson creates her paintings by layering extremely diluted acrylic paint, resulting in ethereal, cloudlike color fields that often lean toward black. She enhances these layers with geometric shapes, vibrant drips, and small triangular forms, reaffirming her identity as a painter focused on the concept of a two-dimensional picture.