John Zurier paints abstract, near-monochrome paintings whose colors range from muted tones to vibrant hues. Concerned with capturing qualities of light and weather effects, Zurier employs a range of brushstrokes and surface treatments, revealing the texture of the canvas or obscuring it with layers of thick impasto. Zurier’s work has been described as transcending the gestural and material to evoke the emotional. “I think the Japanese painter Ike No Taiga [1723–1776] was right,” Zurier has said; “the most difficult thing to achieve in painting is creating a space where absolutely nothing has been painted.”