Robert Longo; The Weight of Hope at the Pace Gallery

Robert Longo’s exhibition The Weight of Hope continues his exploration of large-scale, hyper-realistic charcoal drawings. The works confront the turbulence of contemporary American life by combining the visual authority of photojournalism with the restrained emotional depth of classical painting, prioritizing idealized beauty and harmonious composition over individual expression. The exhibition suggests that in the age of political crisis and collective grief, images can still represent collective memory and experience. Throughout the show Longo depicts symbols of hope, crisis, power, and destruction, alongside figures representing social, political, or historical events in order to explore ideas of intimacy and monumentality. 

I was drawn to Longo’s piece Untitled (St. Louis Rams / Hands Up), 2016 depicting wide receiver Nick Toon with his arms raised in protest of the police killing of Micheal Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Longo captures the charged stillness of Toon’s stance, turning a fleeting gesture into a lasting symbol. 

Equally striking is the work Untitled (Iceberg for Greta Thuberg), 2020 which depicts a towering iceberg as a fragile symbol of ecological urgency, showing the precariousness of systems — natural, political, and moral — under threat. 

Though visually stunning, the exhibition at times leans heavily towards melodrama. Its solemnity, boarding on self seriousness, and moral ambition feels heavy-handed, partly due to Longo’s highly aestheticized approach and reliance on appropriated media imagery. The absence of diverse perspectives — due to his primary focus on Western, white, corporate, and male-coded symbols — limits the breath of his social critique, making the show both visually commanding and conceptually constrained.

Audra Castle

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Austin Martin White; Tracing Delusionships

                                                                        Composite Ruin 1 (after Piranesi), 2025

    Austin Martin White has crafted an endearing display of work with Tracing Delusionships at Petzel Gallery.

The show includes eleven pieces, depictions of dark and whimsical worlds, the majority of which are at a very

large scale. White evokes a unique dimensionality within some of his paintings, a depth achieved through a

layering of materials. Screen mesh forms the base of the canvas, creating a moiré pattern with the illusion of

wavy stripes in the background, appearing almost holographic. I found his paintings much more interesting

than his works on paper due to this quality of the mesh, as it adds movement to the pieces as the moiré shifts and

changes with the angle at which you view it.

     I was drawn to his series of paintings titled Composite Ruins that were painted with this technique and layered

with thick, textured, brightly colored paint. These pieces are truly monumental and impressive to stand before.

As you move closer, the image of massive ruins falls away and the marks become an abstract maze of vibrant

color. This experience of oscillating between these two dimensions in the work made them feel like a psychedelic

vision.

    White was inspired by artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi, whose work I can see in these pieces- Yet Piranesi's

detailed etchings of ruins give the impression that they are recordings of an earthly traveler, while White's

paintings feel completely otherworldly. Outside of his Composite Ruins series I found his interpretation of the

Massacre of the Children of Bethel arresting. This piece references the artist Bob Thompson’s La Mort des Enfants,

a version of the biblical massacre of the innocents. This reinterpretation of his influences reinforces his similar

motivation to reimagine history and its crumbling civilizations. I found this show to be inspirational in its

unique material exploration, and strong in its conceptual ties to the imagery regarding reinvention.

Massacre of the Children of Bethel Variation 5 (after B. Thompson), 2025

*Revision

In the Medium of Life: The Drawings of Beauford Delaney

Ahmed Bioud, 1961

Oil on paper

Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY

The exhibition "In the Medium of Life: The Drawings of Beauford Delaney" features many works on paper, a medium that is more vulnerable and easier to obtain than other materials like canvas or wooden panels, and is generally smaller in scale than traditional formal media, making works on paper easily dismissed as drafts. But this exhibition expresses a different view, that Beauford Delaney's works on paper showcase his more experimental side.

His works reveal a sense of ease and freedom. They are vivid and have obvious brushstrokes with no transitions, making the drawings feel relaxed. Some of the paintings contain short, superimposed lines that enrich the texture and visual depth of the paintings. I was impressed by his work, "Ahmed Bioud." The theme is a portrait of the artist's close friend. The artist didn't describe many details of the subject's features in the painting; the outline of the portrait is broken and overlapped with each other, creating a sense of memory together with the main color of yellow. This gave me more space for imagination about the unseen forms and the portrait's inner world. The work employs a combination of oil paint on paper, which presents a transparent sheen.

The exhibition focuses on Beauford Delaney's neglected, non-traditional techniques, such as oil and pastel on paper to express the artist's thoughts, but the overly dense display of small-sized works in paper media makes viewing the show tedious and fatiguing. If the exhibition displayed the works in themed sections, it might help regulate the viewer's pace and bring more interest to the audience. WC 244 ROSEN CHEN LUO

Haze by Sasha Gordon (at David Zwirner Gallery)

 

Sasha Gordon: Haze, David Zwirner, New York, 2025

In Sasha Gordon’s exhibition Haze, Gordon captures her body and flesh in a hyperrealistic style presenting bizarre and somewhat surreal scenarios. Painting herself eating toenails Gordon had clipped in a previous painting, the works of Haze build a witty narrative illuminating the interface of alter egos. 

To follow Gordon’s visual storytelling, viewers must walk through the large, white gallery as the paintings are hung far from one another, each earning their own wall. The gallery’s absence of wall labels is disorienting, referring to the ambiguous stories Sasha Gordon wishes to convey. 

Although her themes of the body and the bizarre align with the imagery familiar from Surrealist art, certain pieces in Haze lend themselves more to cliche rather than uniquely imaginative artistry. The alter ego storyline was created to explore the tug-of-war between an individual’s personas that at times may be at odds, introducing an internal struggle to find personal reconciliation. Amidst Gordon’s darker and combative pieces like Pruning, the imagery projects the artist's sense of humor. While the humor adds to the complexity of emotions, it detracts from the exhibit’s overall impact.

Haze is a notable exhibition with which audiences can ponder, laugh and engage. Ultimately, art meets the audience where they are, making each person’s journey through the exhibit unique. 

“Untitled (America)” at the Whitney Museum (pt. 3)

 

The Whitney Museum’s “Untitled (America)” exhibition is a reinstallation of the museum’s holdings from the 1900s to the early 1980s. Having opened in July 2025, this show presents themes of abstraction, figuration, pop culture, and landscape traditions.

The piece that lends the show its name is a fixture by Félix González-Torres. Suspended near a window, it becomes a threshold between interior and exterior. “America” exists not inside or outside but through the act of looking and reframing. In that sense, the exhibition treats America less as a place and more as a process of becoming.

American art is traditionally framed through icons such as Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe, or Jasper Johns. “Untitled (America)” features these figures, placing them in dialogue with other artists, such as Alma Thomas, Jacob Lawrence, and Kay WalkingStick. Their work redefined the concept of “America” by resisting the notion of a unified national image and instead presented it as an evolving network of perspectives and contradictions, focusing on race, documentation of migration, and formal experimentation vs. deprivation. In unity, these artworks show "America" as a space built on multiplicity.

Since the show emphasizes the idea of presenting “America” as an evolving concept, it should include more recent artworks that further shape this artistic landscape. The artworks in the show date only until the early 1980s, which fails to present subsequent developments in multiculturalism. The inclusion of recent contemporary artists who play on the critique of race, sexuality, and national mythology would further strengthen the show's argument. Nevertheless, “Untitled (America)” invites the viewers to reconsider what “America” means by challenging its reputation as a single cultural center.

Gabrielle Garland, I'll Get You, My Pretty, and Your Little Dog Too

 

Gabrielle Garland’s first solo exhibition,  I’ll Get You, My Pretty, and Your Little Dog Too, is a collection of wall-mounted paintings depicting a series of architectural portraits that depict the personality of the people who live inside, rather than the actual people. Her impressionistic depiction of neighborhoods and street views of homes is done with affection and distortion, with fragments of details; she aimed to capture the feeling of the moment rather than focusing on details.. Mailboxes, flower boxes, and more stretch, shrink, or lean at angles, capturing the emotional memory that blurs accuracy.

Using paint and glitter on canvas, Garland depicts homes in distorted, illustrative ways that lend liveliness to the homes and the objects that adorn them. Rendered in bright colors and warped perspective, Garland's homes take on their own humanlike expressions, such as worry or joy. She focuses more on the feeling and memory of seeing these spaces on the street rather than how they appear in real life. 

 The installation of the show is open with bright lights from the floor to the ceiling windows, along with the bright overhead LED lights. This lighting feels somewhat sterile, but allows the pieces to keep the spotlight on the plain white walls. The space allows the viewer to slow down and really observe the details that were included in the pieces.

 

Henry Miller is known for breaking conventions and confronting taboos. His writing and painting not only reflect personal experiences but also challenge social norms. His life shows that the growth of an artist requires not only talent and courage but also opportunities and platforms.

In my view, to become an artist, one must have vision, be bold in experimenting and expressing oneself. At the same time, having a mentor or supporter to bring you into the art world and provide a platform is equally important. Ultimately, consistent effort, producing a large body of work, and gaining exposure are the true keys to an artist’s success.