About
Regarding the change from Bad Painting to Good Painting, I had two striking realizations: 1, that even if I produced the worst paintings possible (Bad Painting), they would not be good enough. And 2, that “Idealism is unavoidable.” And that, finally, Bad Painting wasn’t my ultimate ideal.
—Neil Jenney
Gagosian is pleased to announce Idealism Is Unavoidable, an exhibition of Good Paintings by Neil Jenney.
Balancing idealism and realism, Jenney’s landscape paintings are highly stylized and rendered with a careful attention to detail. Begun in 1971, the Good Paintings are differentiated from Jenney’s previous body of work, which he designated as Bad Paintings (1969–70) after curator Marcia Tucker’s 1978 New Museum exhibition “Bad” Painting, which included his work. Painted in acrylic in a loose, gestural style, the Bad Paintings represent relationships between people and things, while upending preconceptions of connoisseurship and “good taste.” The Good Paintings are instead exacting studies of nature in oil paint on wooden panels.
Jenney’s Good Paintings impart the experience of observing the North American landscape at close range, in contrast with the expansive vistas of untamed wilderness typical of the historical Hudson River School. While describing the natural world, many of the works also remind us that the environment is never far removed from human intervention. Jenney’s handmade black wooden frames are integral to these works, which he regards as “painted sculpture.” Playing off the classical conception of a painting as a window into fictive space, the frames create an architectural foreground, asserting their status as physical objects. The works’ mediated nature is further emphasized by the inclusion of titles stenciled in uppercase serif lettering.
#NeilJenney
541 West 24th Street, New York
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+1 212 741 1111
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Press
Gagosian
press@gagosian.com
Hallie Freer
hfreer@gagosian.com
+1 212 744 2313
Polskin Arts
Meagan Jones
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+1 212 593 6485
In Conversation
Neil Jenney and Michael Cary
On the occasion of Neil Jenney: AMERICAN REALISM TODAY, the artist sat down with Gagosian curator Michael Cary to discuss paintings from Jenney’s recent series Modern Africa (2015–)—a subseries of the New Good Paintings (2015–)—and the preceding series, Good Paintings (1971–2015).
Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Winter 2020
The Winter 2020 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Jenny Saville’s Prism (2020) on its cover.
Neil Jenney’s Rules to Live By
The artist speaks with Douglas Dreishpoon about his career, his conception of the term “realism,” and why one must discover one’s own rules.
Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Summer 2019
The Summer 2019 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring a detail from Afrylic by Ellen Gallagher on its cover.
Neil Jenney: Nature Surveyor
Fred Hoffman explores the quiet stillness and Arcadian wonderment at the heart of Neil Jenney’s North American landscape paintings.
Gagosian Quarterly Spring 2018
The Spring 2018 Gagosian Quarterly with a cover by Ed Ruscha is now available for order.