Wolf Kahn

The first part of Wolf Kahn: Sizing Up will focus on the artist’s recent large-scale paintings (some of which are almost eight feet wide; among the largest works of his career). In her catalogue essay, Karen Wilkin describes these paintings as a “group of bold surprising pictures… the open fields and gentle thickets have all but vanished. In place of this familiar farm landscape are confrontational expanses of generously scaled, vigorous, multidirectional marks, often white against intense color, that demand to be read as potent equivalents for growth, wild places, and relatively undisciplined nature.” The second part of Sizing Up, an exhibition of related pastels, will open on June 7th. Wolf Kahn’s paintings and pastels are characterized by their unique and gorgeous color—a trademark of the artist—as well as their blend of spontaneous realism and American Impressionism with the formal discipline of Color Field painting.