Bill Scott's paintings lie within the cultural continuum of the Philadelphia colorist tradition, passed on to him and his contemporaries through mentors such as painters Quita Brodhead and Jane Piper, who were themselves students of Arthur B. Carles, the pioneer of Philadelphia modernism. Also a student of the recognized abstractionist Joan Mitchell, Scott fuses his local artistic heritage together with the raw energy embedded in her abstractions. It is this unique combination of influences—including abstract compositions, saturated color, calligraphic line, large scale, and pure vitality—that drive Scott's paintings and instill them with expressive spirit.

The underlying geometry of brilliantly colored patc...