New York—Pace Gallery is pleased to present Julian Schnabel: The Sad Lament of the Brave, Let the Wind Speak and Other Paintings, a solo exhibition of new and recent work by Julian Schnabel that builds upon his spring presentation with the gallery. The exhibition features eleven recent paintings by the artist, six of which have not been previously exhibited. The show will be on view at 510 West 25th Street from September 18–October 24, 2020. An essay by James Nares, titled The Patch of Blue the Prisoner Calls the Sky, was developed for the spring iteration of the presentation, and accompanies a selection of works from the show.
Painted in Montauk, Julian Schnabel's latest large-scale works embrace the irregular shapes of their supports—fabric that covered a fruit market in Mexico. The exhibition features three works created this year, alongside other recent paintings.
These works catalogue the possibilities of how and what to paint, revealing a new way of looking at the world that blurs the line between representation and configuration. As Nares explains, 'These paintings represent the evidence of their own autonomy. They are metaphoric in an open way, not to interpretation as image but as underlying principles and facets of nature.'
Weather-beaten fabrics provide a temporal point of departure. 'Julian is drawn to surfaces and objects that showtheir own history—scuffed-up cardboard, the discarded sails of sailing ships, Kabuki theater backdrops...he thinksof them as "opportunities"—calls them "veils of time."'
Painted with marks Nares refers to as 'a kind of mapping of the mind,' the works evoke volcanoes, rock formations, ocean waves, deserts, outer space, all rendered in emotive indigo blues, blood reds, pale pinks and olive greens—eternity. Once a utilitarian object, the fabric ground contains traces of its past life and the perfection of the coincidental opening a window into both our world and one imagined in dense paint. "The paintings are full of dynamic surprises...Small fire, a prism, and a window-like opening in a place with no wall, blue sky beyond...'
Julian Schnabel (born in Brooklyn, New York, 1951, raised in Brownsville, Texas) has always been a revolutionary voice in painting and all his other creative endeavours. His use of preexisting materials not traditionally used in art-making, varied painting surfaces, and unconventional modes of construction were pivotal in the reemergence of painting in the United States and beyond since the late 1970s. He invented a new language within painting that paved the way for and influenced a new generation of artists.
Press release courtesy Pace Gallery.
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