“Robert Bingaman: Beyond,” Haw Contemporary

Bike Picture, 2025, oil on canvas, 40” x 32”

Robert Bingaman’s exhibition “Beyond,” currently on view at Haw Contemporary, continues to display the quintessential features of his painting: moody tones, repetition of imagery, a mindful search for the sublime in daily life. It also reveals his interest in the complexity and multifaceted nature of humanness. The show’s 21 oil paintings ruminate on dualities including image vs. object, stillness vs. movement, darkness vs hope. They also divulge an internal psychology.

Bingaman considers the dyad between image and object, “The moment you’ve asked a question about illusions fashioned with paint, you’ve entered your own personal psychological space. Your answers are as good as mine.” The show’s largest work, “Denali,” exists in this tension. Of course, we are not looking directly at the legendary mountain, but rather at his representation of the topography. It is an appearance of a landscape. Rhythmic repetition of opposing hues connects the composition from top to bottom. A nuanced black shade dominates the design through its atmosphere, treed peninsula, and darkened sky reflection. The luminous lighter colors appear as triangular forms, jutting up toward the heavens and down as the mirrored peak in the water. The complex layers of gesso ground, acrylic armature and oil and varnish finish offer a masterclass in color development.

Another duality emerges knowing that Bingaman painted the pieces with minimal outside-world influence such as internet news notifications, TV white-noise or even many music lyrics. His three-month-long experiment in a nearly silent creative practice, contrasts with the implied “sounds” emanating from the canvases. The incessant buzzing of an electric light in “Tanglewood Blue,” the delayed Doppler Effect of a plane passing overhead in “Spirit 3,” the familiar skidding of skin down a fiberglass slide in “Aquaslide King,” echo in our ears. While void of moving figures, the works nevertheless reverberate with human experiences.

The seriality of “Waffle House” exemplifies Bingaman’s ritualistic return to the same image, touching upon an internal voice telling him to paint it “Again.” Like hearing the same musical score across four different performances, the reference image acts as the written notation while each canvas displays an individual concert. They all cite the same source material but are varied in completion. Without identifying numbers in the titles, we are required to observe the distinguishing differences. These might be the slightly faded “W” in its glowing yellow field, or the inclusion of the artist’s “baby tree” to the left of the structure. Like having an unspoken favorite child, we are left to question why this particular object gets preferential treatment.

Bingaman may be looking inward, mulling over his memory and childhood interests, but it is not for simple nostalgic purposes. If anything, according to the artist, “There’s an intentional wisp of the sinister with many of these — at play, or in battle with beauty, the numinous, the out of reach… There’s definitely some quiet violence going down.” The open aperture in “Blackbird 1” offers us a privileged perspective — an intimate look at the infamous SR-71. In the artist’s intentional configuration, the spy is also being watched. Science of the mind at its finest.

The paintings in “Beyond” span many themes and offer various ways to approach them. Ultimately, Robert Bingaman’s works gently nudge us to look longer and think deeper.

“Robert Bingaman: Beyond” continues at Haw Contemporary, 1600 Liberty St., through Nov. 1. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday. For more information, 816.842.5877 or hawcontemporary.com.