J O S E P H   M A R U S K A Straight Down the Middle oil on panel, 46"x46", $5,600.00

Joseph Maruska’s abstract paintings tend to read like classical music compositions.  His undulating lines move and ripple across the painting surface and allow the viewer to interpret and perceive the works with an endless array of imagination and visual interpretation. Maruska's strong forms and graceful landscapes take shape in an earthen palette of golden ochre’s, velvety browns and an array of blues that often translate into cascading, flowing bodies of water or a fragment of atmospheric sky. His unique style of abstraction begins by covering panels with a thick emulsion of modeling paste giving the effect of a subtle, three-dimensional profile. He then comes back into the surface laying down rich color over the masses and shapes, using the shadows and protrusions as guidelines in which to lay the paint on to the surface. Maruska has a keen awareness of not only what he visualizes, but also of what the viewer might experience. He deliberately organizes the luscious abstract fields of color, giving root to landscape, sky and water.