ON VIEW NOW
AT SKIDMORE CONTEMPORARY ART
326 North Coast Highway,
Laguna Beach, California

On view through March, 2026

Kurt Herrmann’s debut exhibition at Skidmore Contemporary Art introduces a suite of intimately scaled paintings that distill form, color, and emotion into precise visual compositions. Working in acrylic on custom birch panels with softly rounded edges, Herrmann embraces a language of abstraction that is both minimal and vibrantly expressive. Across the suite, recurring motifs of curvature, symmetry, and chromatic contrast establish a visual rhythm that suggests movement, drama, and organic transformation within a gently controlled frame.

Herrmann's painting practice is deeply connected to the Appalachian landscape of central Pennsylvania, where he was born and continues to live and work. From a studio set deep in the hills near Lock Haven, he has developed a body of work as readily influenced by the rural surroundings of his upbringing as it is by the traditions of hard-edge painting, geometric abstraction and the emotional dynamics of color.

Herrmann earned his BFA from Lock Haven University, where he studied under painter Bill Foster, a Columbia University–trained artist whose rigor and clarity left a lasting mark. Foster’s mentorship emphasized disciplined critique without stylistic imposition, reinforcing Herrmann’s commitment to authenticity and sustained studio practice. Since establishing himself as a full-time artist in 2000, Herrmann has exhibited widely, with solo and group exhibitions in Philadelphia, Chicago, North Carolina, Miami Beach, Australia, and New Zealand. Herrmann is also represented by Octavia Art Gallery in New Orleans, Louisiana.

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Kurt Herrmann
Galina's Gull, 2019
acrylic on birch panel with rounded left and right edges;
11" x 11.5" x 2"

Minimalist in composition yet charged with quiet tension, Galina’s Gull exemplifies Kurt Herrmann’s ongoing dialogue between color, form, and the emotional resonance of space. Executed on a hand-crafted birch panel with subtly rounded vertical edges, the work presents a pristine white field interrupted only at the top left and bottom right corners by two crisp arcs of brilliant sky blue, each edged with a razor-thin line of orange. These mirrored gestures evoke the fleeting motion of wings or waves, a nod to Herrmann’s sensitivity to the rhythms of the natural world.

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Kurt Herrmann
Space Bark, 2019
acrylic on birch panel with rounded left and right edges;
11" x 11.5" x 2"

In Space Bark, Herrmann delves into a darker, more enigmatic chromatic field, where organic form meets interstellar abstraction. A deep, velvety black backdrop hosts a hovering biomporphic transformation, edged with a taut line of glowing vermilion. Its subtle yet electric contour activates the composition with quiet intensity. A small echo of this red-orange edging reappears elsewhere, activating the visual field.

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Kurt Herrmann
Red River, 2017
acrylic on birch panel with rounded left and right edges;
11" x 11.5" x 2"

Dominated by a luminous red field, the composition is animated by two sweeping arcs of green that emerge from opposite corners, each bordered with a sharp sliver of yellow. The interplay of primary and secondary hues pulse with movement and primal geometry.Here, the color red becomes both figure and ground: vibrantly assertive, yet softened by the organic curvature of the green forms and the painterly precision of the panel’s rounded edges. Red River exemplifies Herrmann’s affinity for elevating elemental forms into an impressive visual vocabulary rooted in the traditions of hard-edge abstraction while animated by his distinctly personal and place-based sensibility.

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Kurt Herrmann
Helbo, 2017
acrylic on birch panel with rounded left and right edges;
11" x 11.5" x 2"

Perhaps a visual statement capturing jazz's ability to fuse intensity with nuance, Helbo explores the expressive potential of pure form and color with striking elegance. A vivid red body is impressed by what might be the soft grip or gentle bite of deep blue flanks (edged by crisp white) sweeping across the top and another curling in from the left as though gently probing into, holding onto, or exerting pressure on the tender surface of a tumescent form.

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Kurt Herrmann
Pollywog Strut, 2024
acrylic on birch panel with rounded left and right edges;
11" x 11.5" x 2"

This 2024 work marks a continuation into organic abstraction, where precision meets whimsy. The composition and title allude to natural growth patterns or the self-determination of evolving life forms while remaining entirely abstract and visually pristine with colors that feel both saturated and serene. Pollywog Strut encapsulates Herrmann’s signature ability to fuse emotional resonance with formal clarity in playful yet refined visual statements embracing richly colored contemporary minimalism.

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Kurt Herrmann
Splog Deco, 2024
acrylic on birch panel with rounded left and right edges;
11" x 11.5" x 2"

Jazz thrives on collaborative spontaneity, bending structure until it either breaks or becomes something new. In the realm of digital noise a splog is a flood of signals and repetitive fragments. In Splog Deco, Herrmann captures the element of surprise that finds poetry within improvisation, syncopation, and disruption with intent. Much like scanning through random stations and landing on an unexpected horn riff or half-heard groove, Splog Deco taps into the pleasure of pattern amidst pandemonium and form emerging amidst flux.

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Kurt Herrmann
Pulpito, 2024
acrylic on birch panel with rounded left and right edges;
11" x 11.5" x 2"

Rich in contrast and personality, Pulpito exemplifies Herrmann’s continued refinement of his visual language. Set against a high-key orange ground, separated by a crisp white edge that further emphasizes the composition’s rhythmic contours, a bold ultramarine shape sweeps across the panel, evoking the gesture of a tendril or tentacle echoing the work’s title, the Spanish diminutive for octopus.

Herrmann’s handling of positive and negative space here is particularly engaging. The balance between assertive color fields and meandering line suggests motion, growth, or emergence. Like much of his 2024 work, Pulpito maintains a strong sense of clarity with an organic, almost creature-like vitality. It's playful precision is attuned to the emotional potential of color and shape.

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Kurt Herrmann
Chopper, 2024
acrylic on birch panel with rounded left and right edges;
11" x 11.5" x 2"

Chopper pulses with dynamic momentum, its jagged red form surging across a field of electric blue with graphic force. Edged in a fine line of lemon yellow, the fiery shape flares outward in pointed extensions, recalling both the motion of spinning blades and the visual energy of mid-century graphic design. The title anchors the piece in kinetic reference, while the composition itself communicates pure visual velocity.

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KURT HERRMANN:
Jazz Suite

On view from January 20
through March, 2026

Whether invoking musical themes, natural references, or exploring formal dynamism, Kurt Herrmann consistently pairs painterly clarity with compositional surprise. Each piece invites both immediate visual engagement and lingering contemplation, offering balance without predictability.

With this exhibition, which unfolds like a jazz suite's sequence of visual improvisations where form, color, and negative space play off one another in lyrical counterpoint, Herrmann exercises a vision that is disciplined yet playful and one that expands the conversation around color, space, and the emotional resonance of contemporary hard edge abstraction. Like a great jazz performance, these works reveal themselves over time — their clarity deepening with each return.

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To explore other works of art available at
Skidmore Contemporary Art
please visit us at

Skidmore Contemporary Art
326 N Coast Hwy
Laguna Beach, California 92651
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To find out more please
reach out to
lia@liaskidmore.com
310-922-5070

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