Although primarily abstract, Moyer's paintings hint at numerous things both in and out of this world: grasses and fronds and galaxy clusters; roiling magma and an asteroid; cornichons (those little French pickles) and orbiting planets; and body parts like breasts and knees and swollen moons, to mention just a few. Many of Moyer's more strictly abstract forms have a curving, sensual, biomorphic look, connecting them with nature. Often you don't know exactly what you are seeing, which is fine.
At DC Moore, the red knees in "Aegean Knees" (2017) might also be breasts, or sloping dunes, or purely abstract swells. At Mary Boone, the top part of "Stellarium" (2016) is a starry night sky. Underneath, a fleshy mound rises, which could be a breast, shoulder, belly, or hill, replete with magnified images of what look like blood cells and microorganisms. Cells, body, landscape, and the universe are all intertwined. You often don't exactly know where Moyer's scenes are situated, which is likewise fine, whether underwater or in outer space, in a burgeoning garden or deep in the earth where seething magma flows.
At DC Moore, two of the more remarkable paintings, one earthly and the other cosmic, involve magma and an asteroid. In the showstopper "Sassafras and Magma" (2017), a jet-black, leaf-like or branch-like form is in the foreground. Behind it is a simmering red, orange and yellow area that looks downright molten; scattered about are several blue circular forms. This painting posits a link between foliage and scalding magma. In "Gego's Asteroid" (2017), a mostly blue, rock-like asteroid floating in or streaking through an inky black expanse is festooned with orange and dark brown blobs and smears, and glittery, multicolored streaks. Thin, pinkish-beige and light blue lines jut from the object, most sporting dark near-circles at their outer tips.
These lines, the oval shape of the asteroid, and of course the title evoke the magnificent spherical sculptures of Gego (Gertrud Goldschmidt), the German-Jewish artist who fled Germany in 1939 for Venezuela and became a leading artist in her adopted country. As you look at Moyer's complex asteroid and its eventful surface, you may find yourself thinking of landforms and the ocean seen from a satellite's height, but also of disco balls and party decorations. It's a glamorous asteroid with a scruffy streak; and it is, quite simply, stunning. It is also almost bursting with wild energy.
...
Read full review at hyperallergic.com.
