Alex Katz: Gathering
Since the end of October 2022, a comprehensive retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum has celebrated the work of Alex Katz. Beginning with the artist’s intimate sketches of New York City subway commuters from the late 1940s and culminating in the rapturous, immersive landscapes that have dominated his output in recent years, the presentation recognises Katz’s oeuvre for its variety of stylistic experimentations. The selection, in many ways, is profound. It accounts for Katz’s nearly constant dedication to painting the figure and landscape, and to finding ways of doing so that defy convention. Throughout the retrospective, we see him adopting extreme points of view (Ada and Vincent, 1967), playing with scale (Yellow Tree, 2020) and fragmenting intimate life moments: a glance between friends (Round Hill, 1977) or a shaft of light filtered through trees (Sunrise, 2019). Filling the museum’s Frank Lloyd Wright rotunda with a vivacity and familiarity rarely felt these days, Katz’s paintings, oil sketches, collages, prints and free standing ‘cut-out’ works provide a panoramic reflection of the artists, poets, dancers and curators that have made New York City what it is today. Alex Katz: Gathering continues until February 20, 2023.
NOTE: The dates provided are current and speculative. Many Australian and international arts organisations remain closed in accordance with COVID-19 restrictions. Please refer to institutional websites for further details.
