WAYNE THIEBAUD

Acquavella Galleries is pleased to present Wayne Thiebaud: Summer Days, which will be on view from April 26th through June 14th in New York. The exhibition, organised in collaboration with the Wayne Thiebaud Foundation, presents works from multiple decades of the artist’s career and tracks his sustained interest in recurring subject matter, here offering a nostalgic look at American life passing through the heat of summer. In Summer Days the artist’s many paintings play with both present and past, tasking the viewer to relax amongst scenes of warmth, indulgence, and distant serenity. Rendered in candy-coloured impasto, the exhibition includes examples of Thiebaud’s paintings of sweets, hot dogs, bathing suits, and whirling beach scenes, among other subjects. Wayne Thiebaud rose to prominence in the 1960s at the same time as Pop artists Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and James Rosenquist, though he did not feel aligned with the movement. Unlike these contemporaries, many of whom embraced commercial techniques, Thiebaud described himself as a traditional painter of illusionistic forms. He repeatedly tackled familiar, everyday subjects to challenge and explore the formal possibilities of painting. His meticulously crafted surfaces are steeped with art historical references and a subtle longing for a sweeter time.