The material
recalls classical Greek
sculpture, while the style, and even the titles at times, refers to
classical Chinese landscape painting.
Given my involvement as a geometric abstract painter over the years, I have indelibly respected and admired Ortman's block - like paintings, each built in a hybrid manner related to a kind of folk constructivism — a way of working that
recalls some strains of
classical music, such as Bartók and Dvorak, and to a lesser extent, the folk - style
sculpture of H. C. Westermann and the faux - systemic paintings of Alfred Jensen recently shown at Pace.