Concentric Visions: The Geometric Art of Gary Lang

Gary Lang (b. 1950, Los Angeles, California) is a leading contemporary American colorist whose radiant geometric abstractions explore the interplay of light, line, and chromatic vibration. Celebrated for his freehand concentric-circle tondos, shimmering color grids, and energetic "zipper" and line paintings, Lang creates works that pulse with optical depth and rhythmic movement. His canvases feel alive—bands of pure hue appear to expand, contract, and shimmer, producing illusions of motion and spatial ambiguity that reward prolonged viewing. Critics frequently place him in dialogue with Josef Albers and Frank Stella, yet Lang's practice stands apart through its emphatically intuitive, pleasure-centered approach rather than strict formalism.

After early training at Chouinard Art Institute, Lang earned a BFA from California Institute of the Arts (1970) and an MFA from Yale University (1975). A Fulbright-Hayes Travel Grant carried him to Barcelona in the mid-1970s, where European modernist traditions and the city's vibrant light deepened his fascination with color as both structure and sensation. He spent subsequent decades shuttling between studios in New York and Los Angeles before settling in the serene valley of Ojai, California, a creative home he shares with fellow artist Ruth Pastine.

Lang describes his process as a "pleasure-driven meditation" on accumulating and organizing visual energy. Working without preliminary drawings or mechanical aids, he builds each circle and line by hand, allowing spontaneity and control to coexist in a state of focused presence. This organic method extends across multiple long-running series—Concentric Circles and Squares, Zipper Paintings, Stars, and Word Paintings—as well as sculptural assemblages of ritualistically gathered objects. He has also completed large-scale public murals in La Jolla and outdoor sculptures in New Haven, Connecticut.

With more than seventy solo exhibitions across the United States, Europe, and Asia, Lang's work resides in prominent public collections including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Frederick R. Weisman Foundation, the Portland Museum of Art (Maine), and numerous others in the U.S. and abroad. He has received the 2015 Arts & Letters Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the 2017 Francis J. Greenburger Award, and has lectured at institutions such as UCLA, the Claremont Colleges, and Yale.

Now in his mid-seventies and still working daily in Ojai, Lang continues to push the boundaries of geometric abstraction. His paintings remain testaments to color's capacity to evoke joy, clarity, and a quiet sense of the infinite—inviting viewers into a shared, meditative encounter with pure visual pleasure.