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A Planar Garden - A Group Exhibition curated by Stephen Westfall - Exhibitions - Alexandre Gallery

Stephen Westfall, Summit, 2024, oil and alkyd on canvas, 36 x 30 inches

A Planar Garden
November 21, 2024 – January 11, 2025
Reception for the artists Thursday, November 21, 5:30 to 7:30 pm

Polly Apfelbaum • Will Barnet • Alexander Calder • Suzanne Caporael • Ralston Crawford • Stuart Davis • Arthur Dove • Suzan Frecon • Mary Heilmann • Carmen Herrera • Harriet Korman • John McLaughlin • Odili Donald Odita • Joanna Pousette-Dart • Patricia Treib • Stephen Westfall

Alexandre is pleased to present A Planar Garden, an intergenerational group exhibition organized by curator and artist Stephen Westfall. Reflecting upon the boundless referential possibilities of planarity in painting, the show will feature works by artists including Polly Apfelbaum, Will Barnet, Alexander Calder, Suzanne Caporael, Ralston Crawford, Stuart Davis, Arthur Dove, Susan Frecon, Mary Heilmann, Carmen Herrera, Harriet Korman, John McLaughlin, Odili Donald Odita, Joanna Pousette-Dart, Patricia Trieb, and Stephen Westfall.

In Westfall’s words:

“I’ve long felt that we’ve needed to recalibrate our expectations of planar abstraction to include its potentials for referentiality, memory, and play; in short, abundance. This doesn’t have to mean a canvas teeming with incident. ‘Planarity’ in painting implies areas of color rather than an accumulation of marks, after all. But color and shape are referential, as is the object of the painting itself. We can recall light and shadow, weather and time of day, when looking at even color filling out a shape. A synesthete might experience flavor, scent, and even sound. A concert of flat colored shapes can reference a riot of associations, humidities, memories of rooms, textiles, the silhouettes of flowers and birds, and the trajectories of ships and jets. Even the perpendicular planes of seemingly reductive abstract painting draws us into a dance between distance and proximity. Think of the far horizons embedded in the granular intimacy of an Agnes Martin painting...

...Not all planar art is painting. Planes can be cut out of sheet metal, or rolled out in ceramic tablets. A stabile shows us planes in air. Above all, I think those artists who arrive at a planar language are finding their way to a more pronounced engagement with architecture. A plane of color in paint, paper decoupage (which is how Matisse referred to his cut outs), or ceramic glaze invokes walls and panes of colored glass. There is a material idealization, if such an oxymoronic thing could exist. Planarity projects into a room rather than offering a window or a doorway out of one. As with icons, planarity in modern and contemporary art says the distances offered are actually present. So, here is a garden of planes showing their plumage and cleared paths, their intensifications of objecthood, their gestures in space, their areas and edges.”

Stephen Westfall (American, b. 1953) has charted a course between post-minimalist geometries and a Pop-inflected awareness of a painting as a thing in the world. The brightly colored diamonds, triangles and trapezoids in his most recent canvases are conjoined into dynamic compositional skeins that seem to lean into space rather than recede. Drawing on Caucasian and Navajo rugs, medieval heraldry, Byzantine floor tile, early twentieth century abstraction, architecture and Pop, Minimalist and post-Minimalist painting, Westfall’s abstraction is deeply acculturated while formally honed into an active, perceptual immediacy. This is the first exhibition he has curated at the gallery.

Installations

Installations Thumbnails
A Planar Garden
A Planar Garden
A Planar Garden
A Planar Garden
A Planar Garden
A Planar Garden
A Planar Garden
A Planar Garden
A Planar Garden
A Planar Garden
A Planar Garden
A Planar Garden
A Planar Garden
A Planar Garden

Selected Works

Selected Works Thumbnails
Stephen Westfall, Summit, 2024 oil on canvas 36 x 30 inches. © Stephen Westfall, courtesy Alexandre Gallery, New York.

Stephen Westfall, Summit, 2024 oil on canvas 36 x 30 inches. © Stephen Westfall, courtesy Alexandre Gallery, New York.

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Suzan Frecon, vermillion mummy 1, 2020, oil on wood panel, 9 5/8 x 12 inches. © Suzan Frecon/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner.

Suzan Frecon, vermillion mummy 1, 2020, oil on wood panel, 9 5/8 x 12 inches. © Suzan Frecon/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner.

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Odili Donald Odita, Choir, 2024, acrylic latex paint on aluminum-core fabricated wood panel with reconstituted wood veneer, 45 x 45 x 1 1/2 inches. © Odili Donald Odita. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

Odili Donald Odita, Choir, 2024, acrylic latex paint on aluminum-core fabricated wood panel with reconstituted wood veneer, 45 x 45 x 1 1/2 inches. © Odili Donald Odita. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

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Ralston Crawford, Las Tres Estrellas, 1973, oil on canvas, 45 1/4 x 30 1/4 inches.

Ralston Crawford, Las Tres Estrellas, 1973, oil on canvas, 45 1/4 x 30 1/4 inches.

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Carmen Herrera, Nocturne, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 36 inches. © Estate of Carmen Herrera, Courtesy Lisson Gallery.

Carmen Herrera, Nocturne, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 36 inches. © Estate of Carmen Herrera, Courtesy Lisson Gallery.

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Harriet Korman, Untitled, 1999, oil on canvas, 54 x 54 inches. Courtesy the artist and Thomas Erben Gallery, New York.

Harriet Korman, Untitled, 1999, oil on canvas, 54 x 54 inches. Courtesy the artist and Thomas Erben Gallery, New York.

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Stuart Davis, Standard Brand #2, 1960-61, casein and graphite on paper, 12 3/4 x 10 inches.

Stuart Davis, Standard Brand #2, 1960-61, casein and graphite on paper, 12 3/4 x 10 inches.

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Alexander Calder, painted metal, 9 x 6 5/8 x 6 5/8 inches. © Private Collection.

Alexander Calder, painted metal, 9 x 6 5/8 x 6 5/8 inches. © Private Collection.

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Mary Heilmann, Idriss, 2012, oil on wood panel, 24 x 29 7/8 inches. © Mary Heilmann. Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and 303 Gallery, New York. Photo: Thomas Müller.


 

Mary Heilmann, Idriss, 2012, oil on wood panel, 24 x 29 7/8 inches. © Mary Heilmann. Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and 303 Gallery, New York. Photo: Thomas Müller.


 

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Polly Apfelbaum, Block Stripes, 2022, terracotta and glaze, 22 x 22 x 3/4 inches. Courtesy of the artist & Frith Street Gallery, London.

Polly Apfelbaum, Block Stripes, 2022, terracotta and glaze, 22 x 22 x 3/4 inches. Courtesy of the artist & Frith Street Gallery, London.

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Patricia Treib, Torque II, 2024, oil on canvas, 80 x 60 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Bureau, New York.

Patricia Treib, Torque II, 2024, oil on canvas, 80 x 60 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Bureau, New York.

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Joanna Pousette-Dart, Night Stripe, 2024, acrylic on canvas on wood panel, 30 1/2 x 37 3/4 inches. © Joanna Pousette-Dart, Courtesy Lisson Gallery.

Joanna Pousette-Dart, Night Stripe, 2024, acrylic on canvas on wood panel, 30 1/2 x 37 3/4 inches. © Joanna Pousette-Dart, Courtesy Lisson Gallery.

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Suzanne Caporael, No. 797, 2024, oil on linen, 54 x 42 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY.

Suzanne Caporael, No. 797, 2024, oil on linen, 54 x 42 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY.

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John McLaughlin, Untitled #34, 1960, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 inches. Courtesy of Van Doren Waxter, New York.

John McLaughlin, Untitled #34, 1960, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 inches. Courtesy of Van Doren Waxter, New York.

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Suzan Frecon, 5 color composition, earths and minerals, 2023, watercolor on Indian jute paper, 14 3/8 x 12 inches. © Suzan Frecon/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner.


 

Suzan Frecon, 5 color composition, earths and minerals, 2023, watercolor on Indian jute paper, 14 3/8 x 12 inches. © Suzan Frecon/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner.


 

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Will Barnet, The White Cloud Spokane, 2005, oil on canvas, 37 1/2 x 37 1/2 inches.

Will Barnet, The White Cloud Spokane, 2005, oil on canvas, 37 1/2 x 37 1/2 inches.

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Arthur Dove, Untitled, 1942, gouache on card, 3 x 4 inches.

Arthur Dove, Untitled, 1942, gouache on card, 3 x 4 inches.

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Arthur Dove, Untitled (Sea and Sand), 1943, mixed media on paper, 3 x 4 inches.

Arthur Dove, Untitled (Sea and Sand), 1943, mixed media on paper, 3 x 4 inches.

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Arthur Dove, Untitled Abstraction [inv. 107], c. 1942, gouache on card, 3 x 4 inches.

Arthur Dove, Untitled Abstraction [inv. 107], c. 1942, gouache on card, 3 x 4 inches.

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Stephen Westfall, Summit, 2024 oil on canvas 36 x 30 inches. © Stephen Westfall, courtesy Alexandre Gallery, New York.

Stephen Westfall, Summit, 2024 oil on canvas 36 x 30 inches. © Stephen Westfall, courtesy Alexandre Gallery, New York.

Suzan Frecon, vermillion mummy 1, 2020, oil on wood panel, 9 5/8 x 12 inches. © Suzan Frecon/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner.

Suzan Frecon, vermillion mummy 1, 2020, oil on wood panel, 9 5/8 x 12 inches. © Suzan Frecon/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner.

Odili Donald Odita, Choir, 2024, acrylic latex paint on aluminum-core fabricated wood panel with reconstituted wood veneer, 45 x 45 x 1 1/2 inches. © Odili Donald Odita. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

Odili Donald Odita, Choir, 2024, acrylic latex paint on aluminum-core fabricated wood panel with reconstituted wood veneer, 45 x 45 x 1 1/2 inches. © Odili Donald Odita. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

Ralston Crawford, Las Tres Estrellas, 1973, oil on canvas, 45 1/4 x 30 1/4 inches.

Ralston Crawford, Las Tres Estrellas, 1973, oil on canvas, 45 1/4 x 30 1/4 inches.

Carmen Herrera, Nocturne, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 36 inches. © Estate of Carmen Herrera, Courtesy Lisson Gallery.

Carmen Herrera, Nocturne, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 36 inches. © Estate of Carmen Herrera, Courtesy Lisson Gallery.

Harriet Korman, Untitled, 1999, oil on canvas, 54 x 54 inches. Courtesy the artist and Thomas Erben Gallery, New York.

Harriet Korman, Untitled, 1999, oil on canvas, 54 x 54 inches. Courtesy the artist and Thomas Erben Gallery, New York.

Stuart Davis, Standard Brand #2, 1960-61, casein and graphite on paper, 12 3/4 x 10 inches.

Stuart Davis, Standard Brand #2, 1960-61, casein and graphite on paper, 12 3/4 x 10 inches.

Alexander Calder, painted metal, 9 x 6 5/8 x 6 5/8 inches. © Private Collection.

Alexander Calder, painted metal, 9 x 6 5/8 x 6 5/8 inches. © Private Collection.

Mary Heilmann, Idriss, 2012, oil on wood panel, 24 x 29 7/8 inches. © Mary Heilmann. Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and 303 Gallery, New York. Photo: Thomas Müller.


 

Mary Heilmann, Idriss, 2012, oil on wood panel, 24 x 29 7/8 inches. © Mary Heilmann. Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and 303 Gallery, New York. Photo: Thomas Müller.


 

Polly Apfelbaum, Block Stripes, 2022, terracotta and glaze, 22 x 22 x 3/4 inches. Courtesy of the artist & Frith Street Gallery, London.

Polly Apfelbaum, Block Stripes, 2022, terracotta and glaze, 22 x 22 x 3/4 inches. Courtesy of the artist & Frith Street Gallery, London.

Patricia Treib, Torque II, 2024, oil on canvas, 80 x 60 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Bureau, New York.

Patricia Treib, Torque II, 2024, oil on canvas, 80 x 60 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Bureau, New York.

Joanna Pousette-Dart, Night Stripe, 2024, acrylic on canvas on wood panel, 30 1/2 x 37 3/4 inches. © Joanna Pousette-Dart, Courtesy Lisson Gallery.

Joanna Pousette-Dart, Night Stripe, 2024, acrylic on canvas on wood panel, 30 1/2 x 37 3/4 inches. © Joanna Pousette-Dart, Courtesy Lisson Gallery.

Suzanne Caporael, No. 797, 2024, oil on linen, 54 x 42 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY.

Suzanne Caporael, No. 797, 2024, oil on linen, 54 x 42 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY.

John McLaughlin, Untitled #34, 1960, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 inches. Courtesy of Van Doren Waxter, New York.

John McLaughlin, Untitled #34, 1960, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 inches. Courtesy of Van Doren Waxter, New York.

Suzan Frecon, 5 color composition, earths and minerals, 2023, watercolor on Indian jute paper, 14 3/8 x 12 inches. © Suzan Frecon/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner.


 

Suzan Frecon, 5 color composition, earths and minerals, 2023, watercolor on Indian jute paper, 14 3/8 x 12 inches. © Suzan Frecon/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner.


 

Will Barnet, The White Cloud Spokane, 2005, oil on canvas, 37 1/2 x 37 1/2 inches.

Will Barnet, The White Cloud Spokane, 2005, oil on canvas, 37 1/2 x 37 1/2 inches.

Arthur Dove, Untitled, 1942, gouache on card, 3 x 4 inches.

Arthur Dove, Untitled, 1942, gouache on card, 3 x 4 inches.

Arthur Dove, Untitled (Sea and Sand), 1943, mixed media on paper, 3 x 4 inches.

Arthur Dove, Untitled (Sea and Sand), 1943, mixed media on paper, 3 x 4 inches.

Arthur Dove, Untitled Abstraction [inv. 107], c. 1942, gouache on card, 3 x 4 inches.

Arthur Dove, Untitled Abstraction [inv. 107], c. 1942, gouache on card, 3 x 4 inches.