I would like to introduce myself as qi peng, one of the artists on the Iao Gallery roster. Lately I've been pursuing a really awesome book called "Abstraction Gesture Ecriture" by various writers who analyze paintings from the Daros Collection in Switzerland. This tome looks how even though paintings can be abstract, they can take up various forms of gestures placed upon the canvas or support.

This is a solid introduction to abstract art during the 20th century and begins with examples from Klee's calligraphy and ends with the postmodern quotations from various oriental motifs by Phillip Taaffe. Each essay is enlightening with a touch of humor especially about the oxidation paintings executed by Warhol's "assistants" (I will let you guys read about it from the book just so you can know what's the method used for them!)

I recommend this book wholeheartedly. I find it a lovely introduction to the controversial Cy Twombly's graffiti-style work (way before Basquiat) before the viewer embarks on the more difficult monographs.

A short introduction to myself:

qi peng was born in Queens, New York in 1976. He received his masters degree at Yale University. He is a conceptual artist and documentary photographer who works with various approaches ranging from traditional drawing to mixed media philosophical paintings to conceptual documentary photography. The artist currently lives and works near downtown Salt Lake City and New York City for special projects.