Twenty-six abstract paintings are on view, from postcard size to twenty-six feet in length. These works intuitively explore painterly processes that have parallels with geological, oceanographic and cosmic phenomena. Themes treated in works completed between 2003 and 2008 include: Retreating Ice Sheet series, Chasm Edge series, Aquifer series, Storm King series, Split Reef series, Cataclysmic Variable series, and Fault Lines. Also included are three works, pre-dating 2003, to demonstrate the stylistic continuity and thematic progression between Loven's early and mid-career.

"I want to become nature," Jackson Pollock once said. Loven takes Pollock's processes and program in his own unique direction producing surfaces and juxtapositions of form of striking originality. Yet, the viewer has an evocative experience akin to euphoric recall, as a sensible visual world unfolds before their eyes. Loven speculates, "If Pollock had lived to see the Hubble photographs, or even the first satellite photos of earth, he might have said 'I want to become the cosmos.' "

Loven studied with Roman Verostko and Frank Gaard of Minneapolis, Aribert Munzner of Germany/Minneapolis, Johanna Blomstedt of Finland, Fred Thieler of Germany, Siah Armajani of Iran/Minneapolis, Kenneth Dingwall of Scotland, with leading New York artist Salvatore Scarpitta, and with New York School painter (and friend of Pollock) Grace Hartigan. He credits Thieler with introducing him to pour and stain painting techniques, and Grace Hartigan with sustaining the importance of subject matter for her students. Loven comments, "Grace kept imagery in her work and she introduced me to Robert Motherwell one evening at the Baltimore Museum of Art. I already knew his work, and I suppose the fact that he was still a brush painter put me off a little. But Motherwell really was a great theorist for the Abstract Expressionist movement, and before that along with Rothko he had formed a group in New York called 'The Subjects of the Artists.' Their idea was that even abstract painting had subject matter. Their's was not an art about nothing, and neither is mine. Hartigan's teaching and Motherwell's example helped me embrace the content in my work. My goal is to make a meaningful contribution to the history of painting, without leaving my audience behind."

These are paintings that uniquely integrate American and European modern painting theories. This is Loven's fifth solo exhibition, and his second in Ohio. His work can be seen in corporate and municipal collections in New York City, Long Island City, Baltimore, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Austin, Texas. His work has been shown in the following museums: Baltimore Museum of Art, Minnesota Museum of American Art, Cornell Museum (Florida), and The Butler Institute of American Art.

June 4 – June 29, 2008.

Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The exhibition's closing reception is Sunday, June 29, from 2 to 5 p.m.

The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public. For more information: 330-972-6030 or dwatt@uakron.edu.