Dennis Masback's painting reveals a record of his working process which is both random and meticulous. Each piece begins with the casual placement of forms and develops as these forms are precisely painted. Working from back to front, layers of translucent acrylic paint reveal the underlying structure of the work. The work itself is inspired by the syncopated sounds of jazz. Shapes and lines form rhythmic compositions that mimic the improvisations of bebop, scat and the blues. These works, like jazz, are complex, evoking more than their elegant surfaces suggest. The work suggests an architectural landscape, a city grid. Hard lines and edges delineate spaces and forms - squares and rectangles become windows, bricks and blocks. The interlocking lines can also suggest a handmade or loomed cloth, as each work is "woven" from hundreds of lines and forms that are individually painted in luminous colors.

Dennis Masback received B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees from Washington University School of Art in St. Louis and was awarded a Visual Arts Fellowship in painting from The National Endowment for the Arts in 1991. He teaches at Pratt and at the Parsons School of Design in New York City.