STEVEN ALEXANDER J O U R N A L: Jacqueline Humphries

27.1.23

Some Memorable Shows from 2021-2022

The past two plus years have been challenging in so many ways -- no travel, no restaurants, no openings, no hugs -- to mention only a few of the more minor Covid losses....Nevertheless, some important shows happened in New York, and I was able to get to a small fraction of them. Here are images from a few of the standouts. My sincere regrets to all my friends and colleagues whose shows I missed.

Jacqueline Humphries at Greene Naftale

Joan Mitchell at David Zwirner

Richard Pousette-Dart at Pace

Thornton Willis at David Richard

Michelle Stuart at Lelong

Ron Gorchov at Vito Schnabel

David Diao at Postmasters

Mary Obering at Bortolami

Frank Bowling at Hauser & Wirth

Svenja Deininger at Maryanne Boesky

Brice Marden at Gagosian

Maja Ruznic at Karma

Terry Winters at Matthew Marks

Jasper Johns at the Whitney Museum

26.11.17

JACQUELINE HUMPHRIES at Greene Naftali

Jacqueline Humphries, One Cat, 2016, oil on linen, 100 x 111 inches

Jacqueline Humphries, One Cat, 2016, Detail

If you are in New York, don't miss the exhibition of new paintings by Jacqueline Humphries at Greene Naftali through December 16, 2017. Throughout her history, Humphries has made adventurous paintings that revel in process and materials, operating in a nebulous area between painterly sensuality and theoretical commentary. With these new paintings, she has outdone herself on both counts -- a group of ten very large canvases that are deeply luscious and conceptually brilliant. Working with laser cut screens of images from techno-pop culture -- emoji symbols and ASCII code -- she applies thick oil paint through stencils of tiny images that form blocks of irregular grids, or from a distance, supple textures. These elements overlay thick gestural fields of oil paint, creating amalgamated surfaces that appear mottled or aged. Up close, the recognition of the screened images becomes dominant, creating beautiful tensions as the viewer's perception changes with proximity. These are serious paintings with a wonderful sense of humor, and sly intelligence. They explore and embody the dilemmas of painting now, and emerge with beauty, optimism and authority.