Alex Katz exhibit captures ephemeral beauty of being

Arts & Design

Published: 07 Sep. 2023, 15:30 Updated: 11 Sep. 2023, 12:17

Alex Katz exhibit captures ephemeral beauty of being

″Hyacinth 2″ (2022) by Alex Katz [ALEX KATZ, GLADSTONE GALLERY]

“Flowers,” a decades-long series of vibrant floral paintings of daffodils, roses and lilies by renowned American artist Alex Katz, shouldn't be viewed literally.

Each painting is best appreciated figuratively by its spontaneity, as Katz was always enraptured in capturing the moment. It’s not about which flower the 96-year-old painter decided to depict, or which colors he used.

During the pandemic in 2020, he spent most of his time at his home in Maine attempting to be a “faster” painter by applying more “ambitious brushstrokes” to “try to catch these fleeting moments in the spring and summer.”

This is how he found his language of painting flowers, Paula Tsai, partner at Gladstone Gallery, said on Monday.

The gallery’s Seoul branch in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, started its show on Katz’s 2022 “Flowers” paintings the same day.

It’s the first time the gallery is exhibiting his paintings of flower close-ups on black backdrops.

″Carnations 2″ (2022) by Alex Katz [ALEX KATZ, GLADSTONE GALLERY]

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His previous paintings usually had brighter backgrounds.

Critics liken Katz’s flower paintings to poetry, in that they both are characterized by minimalism.

“Pairing Katz with poetry is not a first-time thing,” Tsai said. “He has always been fascinated with poetry and how you can be economical with words.” That's thanks to the artist's collaboration with poets like Frank O’Hara and Edwin Denby since the 1960s.

The same is applied to his paintings: He tries to be succinct. He keeps the color palette minimal and uses few brushstrokes, all while rendering a powerful sense of emotion in the viewer.

The art catalog for this exhibition therefore has arranged each painting on view with relatable Korean poems about nature, including those from Yun Dong-ju, Na Tae-joo, Kim Yong-taek and Ahn Do-hyun.

Also astonishing is Katz’s method of painting wet-on-wet. The technique requires layering wet oil paints on top of each other before the lower layers have dried. It’s common for the artist who use the technique to finish works in one sitting.

″Orange Lily″ (2022) by Alex Katz [ALEX KATZ, GLADSTONE GALLERY]

“There is no room for space, which is why you have to be precise and have conviction that this is the right place to [paint this],” Tsai explained.

Katz’s paintings rarely show mistakes and are flat and well-saturated. “This is what makes him a master, to be able to paint like that,” Tsai said, as it “take decades and decades of practice.”

In the end, “it’s about existence [and] that these beautiful things will [eventually] wilt and die.”

“Alex Katz” continues through Oct. 21. Gladstone Gallery is open from from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Tuesdays to Saturdays. The exhibition is free.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]