Review by Lenore Miller, Curator of University Galleries

The George Washington University

M.A. Langenkamp is a painter whose work has its basis in abstract expressionism. That is, the work is about color and the movement of paint across the surface, and it is the manifestation of the physical process of painting. Contemporary abstract painting, in the aftermath of color field painting, has been concerned with delineation, marks both reflecting the passage of time, and the artists? inner worlds. Such paintings can be deciphered as an organic unfolding or layering, as opposed to the overall gestalt of a color field painting. Collage-like elements and/or a flowing brushstroke may signify imagination, memory, history, and nature, all elements of 'epic' paintings.

Some of Langenkamp's subjects are windows on the artist's painterly forebears, as in Etude Velasquez (2000). The artist has expressed an admiration for Asian calligraphy, and this is evidenced in the bold brushstrokes and vertical format of Jeweled Mountain.

M.A. Langenkamp's recent paintings similarly unfold, evoking landscape and the passage of time. Reflecting her travels, one senses the visual experience of place reconsidered in the titles of the paintings. Landscape and the identification with color can be strongly felt in such works as Isnik Blue, a challenging use of hue to signify the character of a city. Spatial movement in depth and orientation to the horizon achieve both movement and sense of form in Route a Roussillon (1997).

In the luxuriant region of France where the artist lives, a melding of age-old habitation and landscape, hill towns and mountains, provide the backdrop for her vision. Such a large painting is Avalanche, depicting the snow of Mt. Ventoux in spring, the highest mountain in Provence./

The process of painting is like jazz for the musician or ensemble, in the words of the artist, "The artist begins to play without a written score. Ideas for progress and intermixture of fugal elements come to the artist?When the composition winds to resolution the artist stops." This intuitive process is evident in the lively and vibrant paintings of M.A. Langenkamp.

Listed Artist
- Smithsonian American Art Museum: Files of American Artists (contemporary)
- National Museum of Women in the Arts: Archives of American Women Artists
- Corcoran Gallery of Art: Index of Washington DC Artists.
- Government Services Administration (GSA), Artist index.

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