Nüart Gallery is thrilled to announce a new exhibition featuring work by Alex Katz + Damien Hirst. On display will be original prints from both distinguished artists, each showcasing a singular approach to the botanical image. The exhibition will run from March 15th through April 14th.
Renowned for his bold lines and vibrant colors, Alex Katz's original prints capture the essence of flora with the smooth aesthetics of his signature abstract expressionism. Katz's mastery transforms these blossoms into timeless iconic imagery, with each composition exuding vitality and dynamism, as petals disperse in a symphony of color and form. In these meticulously crafted compositions of fleeting beauty, Katz invites viewers to experience the essence of spring through his distinctive visual language, blending abstraction and representation to evoke a sense of reverence and mirth.
Reflecting on his floral works, Katz shares, "Flowers are a beautiful contradiction – vibrant yet fragile, fleeting yet eternal. In my paintings, I strive to capture the essence of each blossom, distilling their allure into timeless works of art."
In juxtaposition to Katz's sleek florals, Damien Hirst's "The Virtues" series offers a contemplative exploration of cherry blossoms and the passage of time. Drawing inspiration from Impressionism and Pointillism, Hirst's prints radiate with the transient beauty of cherry blossoms in full bloom. Each print, named after one of the Eight Virtues of Bushidō, invites viewers to reflect on themes of courage, mercy, and honesty, symbolized through the delicate petals of the cherry tree.
Hirst's fascination with the cherry blossom as a metaphor for life's impermanence is evident in each carefully formed print. As the artist reflects, "Cherry Blossoms are about beauty and life and death. They’re extreme – there’s something hopeful yet hopeless about them...Blossoms are optimistic and bright yet fragile, just like we are."
This exhibition offers a contemporary representation of botanical beauty through the work of two of our most influential living artists.
Alex Katz (b. 1927) is known for distinctive bold lines and flat fields of color, a style that he has refined over the past seven decades. He studied with Abstract Expressionists in the 1940s at Cooper Union in New York and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. He is known as a precursor of the Pop Art movement. His work is informed by plein-air painting which he was introduced to at Skowhegan and Japanese woodblock prints. His work has been included in shows at institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and the Fosun Foundation in Shanghai, among others. His work belongs to multiple public collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Brooklyn Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Tate, and has fetched million-dollar prices on the secondary market.
Damien Hirst (b. 1965) is a British artist and entrepreneur known for installations, painting, and sculpture. He is the leading figure associated with the Young British Artists which rose to fame in the 1980’s. Hirst has received many accolades throughout his career including Tate Britain’s Turner Prize and is considered one of the most influential artists within the contemporary market. Since 1988, when the artist developed and curated “Freeze,” a groundbreaking exhibition of his work and that of his Goldsmiths College peers, he has been the subject of major shows at Tate Modern in London, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
