SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Dolby Chadwick Gallery presents The Long Year, an exhibition of new paintings by Gary Edward Blum. With their tiers of horizontal stripes and extended fields of color, Blum’s compositions can be seen as emerging out of the legacies of Minimalism and Abstract Expressionism. Indeed, Agnes Martin’s emphasis on lines and grids and aspects of Richard Diebenkorn’s later color field paintings can be observed in Blum’s work. But the exercise Blum has in mind extends far beyond a mere reworking of established styles. Intrigued by dualities and the phenomena of coexistence, Blum introduces aspects of realism into certain sections – typically the upper register – of his compositions as a means of creating stylistic opposition. His use of trompe l’loeil to realistically render swatches of paper held up by strips of cellophane tape