Biography

Paul Resika (b. 1928, New York, New York) is best known for his paintings of iconic Provincetown forms. His influences include Abstract Expressionism, Realism, and Impressionism. “Resika is recognized for the buoyancy of his palette and the basic shapes of his subjects, which are pared down to the simplest geometric forms—neat little houses in profiles and swishes of color that define the boats. His paintings are just a suggestion of a scene, but they are enough to spark a memory, evoke a mood, or illuminate a dream,” writes artist and critic Deborah Forman. The artist studied under Hans Hofmann as a teenager in New York and Provincetown before departing for Venice and Rome in 1950 to study the old masters. After casting aside Hofmann’s abstract principles, his Italian palette turned sober and descriptive. Upon his return to the United States, Resika devoted himself increasingly to the exploration of light and color, and the synthesis of abstraction and representation. Over his eight decade-long career, Resika has exhibited at the Peridot Gallery, Graham Modern, Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, Berta Walker Gallery, Provincetown, Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, and Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York. Resika splits his time between New York and Truro, Massachusetts. Resika’s work is included in the collections of the Hood Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Addison Gallery among numerous others. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (1984) and has been elected Academician at the National Academy of Design (1978) and the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1994).

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