Curated by Cecilia Alemani, director and chief curator of High Line Art, this exhibition comprises paintings dating from 1944 through 1986 and two sculptures: Clamdigger (1972), and the monumental Standing Figure (1969-84). A pioneering figure of the postwar era, de Kooning explored the expressive potential of color, line, and space and continuously challenged the boundaries between figuration and abstraction. Through the considered placement of late paintings including Untitled V (1982), on loan from the Museum of Modern Art, and Untitled XIX (1984) among works of the preceding decades, the exhibition foregrounds visual motifs that recurred throughout de Kooning's career. De Kooning often reworked his canvases, reincorporating passages from earlier compositions by tracing shapes he wanted to preserve onto vellum, and even changing their orientation multiple times during their gestation. It was through revisiting and revising his compositions that he developed a consistent but flexible vocabulary of colors and gestures rooted in figuration. "A restless explorer of the canvas, de Kooning never stopped interrogating the possibilities of what painting could be," Alemani notes. "As a curator, it is deeply rewarding to grapple with the constant process of artistic reinvention and self-interrogation that animates his creative trajectory, especially through closer examination of his late works." The exhibition's title, Endless Painting, references this enduring, ever-evolving visual language and the artist's professed decision to "just stop" rather than formally finish paintings, perhaps seeking a more expansive definition of the medium itself. During the reception, Alemani will moderate a conversation exploring the continued impact of de Kooning's paintings and working methods on artists of today. Exhibition on view from April 15th through June 14th.
New York City, NY; NYC