Gordon Sizelove "Visual Fusion" Pastel on Paper, Abstract Radial Sphere Drawing in Red, Bay Area California Art, Original 16 X 16 Inches, 2026

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Short strokes of scarlet, black, mint green, butter yellow and cobalt radiate from two points, one in the upper right … Read more Short strokes of scarlet, black, mint green, butter yellow and cobalt radiate from two points, one in the upper right and one at the bottom, to form a spinning, ball-like shape that fills the square. The arrangement is rhythmic, with red and black strokes bundled in places and green and yellow opening up in others, giving the sphere a sense of light turning across its surface. The pastel is dense and slightly raised, each stroke visibly laid down in a single motion. Sizelove cites Buckminster Fuller's geodesic domes and the idea of synergy, where many parts add up to one unified image, and this sheet makes that idea concrete: hundreds of small marks, one form.

Strong in color and modest in size, it works as an accent above a console, a bar cart, a bookshelf or a bedroom dresser. Red and black make it a natural match for charcoal upholstery, leather, black-framed mirrors and bright textiles, while the mint and yellow lift neutral rooms. It looks lively in a hallway or a stairwell, where the radiating form catches the eye from across the space.

Pastel on Paper, 16 x 16 x 0.1 in (40.6 × 40.6 × 0.3 cm). Unframed.

Sizelove's pastel works begin the way his paintings do, with a curved, flowing line that sets the movement of the sheet. Color is then built up along that line in short strokes and rounded dabs of pastel, each slightly different from its neighbor, until the whole surface is covered. The chalky pigment sits on the grain of the paper, and where marks overlap they blend into new tones. The work is on paper and unframed.

Gordon Sizelove (b. 1953, Boston) is a San Francisco painter who works in acrylic, pastel, charcoal and pencil. Raised in Springfield and Worcester, Massachusetts, he moved west in 1972 to attend the San Francisco Art Institute, studying with Sam Tchakalian, Julius Hatofsky, Tom Holland and Robert Hudson, and earned his MFA in Painting in 1979.

After a teaching credential from San Francisco State University, he taught art in the San Francisco public schools for decades, including students with dyslexia, and has painted full time since retiring in 2014. His work, shown in a 2023 Inter-Society Color Council exhibition in Rochester, builds interlocking patterns from spots and strokes of color placed along a drawn, curving line, in the spirit of Buckminster Fuller's geodesic structures and with a long interest in the consciousness of perception. He lives and works in San Francisco's South of Market district. See less