In Intercedent, his second solo exhibition with Callan Contemporary, Andrew Wapinski advances his ongoing inquiry into the dynamic between natural and man-made processes. With a unique complement of materials—pigmented ice, sumi ink, gesso, and anthracite coal—he creates visually and conceptually complex paintings on linen-mounted panel. The coal, which he uses as a drawing tool, comes from his hometown, St. Clair, Pennsylvania, where he grew up watching the landscape constantly transforming as a result of underground and surface mining. He became aware of the dramatic ways we use technology to intercede in geological time and processes, displacing tons of earth and rock to serve human needs. Wapinski’s artwork is a metaphor for this phenomenon. Although his paintings combine aspects of gestural and geometric abstraction, some of his forms evoke land masses, grids, and architectural structures, a further tie-in with his thematic concerns.