Small is Beautiful
Small is Beautiful
Van Doren Waxter is pleased to present Small is Beautiful, an exhibition of small-scale works by 21 artists, both familiar and new faces to the gallery’s program. The exhibition features works by Etel Adnan, Jennifer Bartlett, Rosemarie Beck, Max Bill, James Brooks, Marsha Cottrell, Richard Diebenkorn, Jeronimo Elespe, Tom Fairs, Louise Fishman, Judy Fishkin, Michael Goldberg, Zoe Longfield, Vera Molnar, Harvey Quaytman, Mariah Robertson, Jackie Saccoccio, Alan Shields, Hedda Sterne, Anne Truitt, and Jack Tworkov.
The title of this group show derives from the book Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered by E.F. Schumacher, which challenges the mainstream ethos of “bigger is better” through a collection of essays that propose alternative views on technology and human needs. As society evolves within the structure of capitalism, the value of objects and ideas becomes increasingly dependent on their quality of being measurable or quantifiable, which, more often than not, leads to the misevaluation of the significance of art in our lives. In the age of giantism and automation, art puts pressure on the assumption that human prosperity is solely indexed by macro development and commercial achievement. Demonstrating refinement and painstaking introspection of the artists, the works in Small is Beautiful invite the viewers to come close, and become intimate with the shapes of inexplicable emotions, observations, and instincts. These works bring attention to the personal and spiritual needs of people–– to extend empathy and curiosity about another human’s experiment, to imagine a life behind the fragment of a stranger’s painted memory.
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Etel Adnan Satellites, 2020
Oil on canvas
1/2 x 13 in (24 x 33 cm)
Jennifer Bartlett Color Counting, 1970
Enamel, silkscreen on baked enamel, steel plate 12 x 12 in (30.5 x 30.5 cm)
Rosemarie Beck
Bathers, 1976
Oil on board
6 x 8 1/2 in (15.2 x 21.6 cm)
Max Bill
farbfeld aus vier gleichen gruppen (color field from four equal groups), 1963-66
Oil on canvas
13 x 13 in (33 x 33 cm)
James Brooks R, 1952
Oil on canvas
26 x 19 in (66 x 48.3 cm)
20 x 15 in (50.8 x 38.1 cm)
Marsha Cottrell
Untitled (Mixed Dark_Red, Yellow, Blue, Green), 2022
Archival pigment on digital ground on paper, unique
6 1/8 x 6 1/2 in (15.6 x 16.5 cm)
Richard Diebenkorn
Cigar Box Lid #11 (CR No. 4378), 1979
Oil on wood (cigar box lid)
Jeronimo Elespe
Talante Crítico, 2023
Oil on aluminum
8 x 6 in (20.3 x 15.25 cm)
Image size: 9 x 6 1/8 in (22.9 x 15.6 cm)
Sheet size: 15 1/4 x 11 1/8 in (38.7 x 28.3 cm)
Tom Fairs
Anna Pavlova’s Garden, c. 1990’s Oilstick, colored pencil on paper mounted to mat
Louise Fishman Untitled, 2007
Oil on PVC foam
12 5/8 x 7 3/4 in (32.1 x 19.7 cm)
Untitled, from the series New Orleans, 1987/2006
8 x 6 inches (20.3 x 15.2 cm)
Edition 1 of 6, with 2 APs
Judy Fiskin
Gelatin silver print
Mixed media on paper laid down on board 11 3/4 x 9 in (29.8 x 22.9 cm) 18.
Sam Francis Untitled, c. 1955
9 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches (24.1 x 21 cm)
Michael Goldberg Untitled, c. 1959
Collage and oil on paper
21. Zoe Longfield
Untitled, c. 1945-1948
Gouache on paper
15 x 11 1/4 in (38.1 x 28.6 cm)
Vera Molnar Icone, 1966
Gouache and collage on board
10 3/4 x 10 3/4 in (27.3 x 27.3 cm)
Bistre ink on paper mounted on metal 20 x 20 inches (50.8 x 50.8 cm)
Framed: 21 x 21 inches (53.3 x 53.3 cm)
Harvey Quaytman
Untitled, 1993
2019_042-19, 2024
15 x 10 in (38.1 x 25.4 cm)
Edition of 10
Mariah Robertson
C-Print
Jackie Saccoccio Untitled, 2020
Oil pastel on paper
12 x 12 inches (30.5 x 30.5 cm)
Alan Shields
2 Eye Worm (head on), c. 1995
Acrylic, yarn, thread on canvas
6 1/2 x 13 1/2 inches (16.5 x 34.3 cm)
Untitled (September 27, 2001), 2001
Graphite, whiteout on paper
12 1/4 x 9 inches (31.1 x 22.9 cm)
Hedda Sterne
10 1/2 x 12 3/8 inches (26.7 x 31.4 cm)
Anne Truitt
Untitled, 1966
Acrylic and graphite on paper
13 7/8 x 11 inches (35.2 x 27.9 cm)
Jack Tworkov
Untitled (Study for Athene), c.1949
Oil and pencil on paper
31. Stanley Whitney Untitled, 1975
Oil on canvas
21 3/8 x 20 1/2 in (54.3 x 52.1 cm)
Published on the occasion of the exhibition
Small is Beautiful February 6 – April 4, 2025
Design by Nick Naber
Edited by Dorsey Waxter and Nick Naber Artwork photography by Charles Benton
Cover: Jackie Saccoccio, Untitled [detail], 2020 Pg. 4; © Jennifer Bartlett. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, and The Jennifer Bartlett 2013 Trust.
VAN DOREN WAXTER
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