Gallery  May 21, 2018  Megan D Robinson

Intimate Landscapes in Alex Katz's Grass and Trees

Courtesy Richard Gray Gallery

Alex Katz: Grass and Trees

A fixture in modern art since 1954, Alex Katz’s radically cropped portraits and bold landscapes foreshadowed Pop Art. His wide brush strokes and meticulous composition combine abstraction and representation, with a style faintly reminiscent of woodblock prints. Approaching his 90th birthday, Katz began applying to unmistakable style to landscapes, diverging from the portraiture he’s known for. The resulting exhibition, Grass and Trees, explores three motifs: grasses, roads and trees. These massive paintings, with gestural swaths of light and color, provide an immersive experience of secret woodland paths, sunlight reflecting off blades of grass, and the dance of light and shadow across a forest canopy, in color so rich, you could almost eat it.

Alex Katz: Grass and Trees
Courtesy Richard Gray Gallery

Alex Katz: Grass and Trees 

Alex Katz: Grass and Trees 
Courtesy Richard Gray Gallery

Alex Katz: Grass and Trees

Alex Katz: Grass and Trees
Courtesy Richard Gray Gallery

Alex Katz: Grass and Trees

Alex Katz: Grass and Trees
Courtesy Richard Gray Gallery

Alex Katz: Grass and Trees

One of the most recognized and widely-exhibited artists of his generation, Katz’s celebrated body of work includes paintings, drawings, sculptures and prints, with forays into fashion. Grass and Trees follows recent museum surveys the Met and the High Museum of Art. His work can be found in major institutions around the world. Katz lives and works in New York and Maine.

Courtesy Richard Gray Gallery

Alex Katz: Grass and Trees

Alex Katz: Grass and Trees is at Gray Warehouse in Chicago until June 2, 2018. For more information, visit Richard Gray Gallery online.

About the Author

Megan D Robinson

Megan D Robinson writes for Art & Object and the Iowa Source.

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