McClain Gallery is pleased to announce OBJECT/IMAGE, a solo exhibition presenting eight new shaped paintings alongside smaller works on panel and paper by David Row. These works feature matte, metallic pigments with discreet fluorescent underpainting that sneaks along the edges of the works. The paintings’ polygonal wood panels push beyond the confines of classic rectangular supports, eschewing tradition and orthogonal forms with a sense of lightness. This marks Row’s third solo exhibition with the gallery.
Renowned for his distinctive approach to geometric abstraction, Row focuses OBJECT/IMAGE on the shaped supports of the paintings. These works intentionally interrupt the viewer’s sense of perspective: no edge is parallel to the ground or vertical in space. Instead, Row favors an unmooring from the traditional viewer–painting, or subject–object, relationship. To find anchoring, the viewer must grapple with her body’s proximity to the painting/object in order to situate herself in this new proposition. Row allows this process to happen phenomenologically through physical orientation and perceptual attunement. Time and movement are crucial factors in the viewer's experience of this work.
In addition to his exploration of rectilinear forms, Row's innovative combination of hues adds a vibrant and dynamic dimension to OBJECT/IMAGE. Introducing fluorescent colors into his palette with this series, Row strikes a powerful balance between perturbation and harmony, juxtaposing high-vis colors with mellow metallic pigments. The fluorescence magnifies the work’s intensity, influencing how color translates from one section of a painting to the next. Bright underpainting, while covering minimal surface, allows for chameleon-like color shifts, such as red underpainting producing a greenish tint to a pewter finish. Vivid edges cause the white wall behind to glow with wild bands of reflected color around the paintings. While the matte metallic surfaces hazily reflect the shadow of the viewer as she moves around the paintings, the underpainting gives them a fresh and boisterous energy, bringing them to life in unexpected ways.
As Row reflects, "I like that fluorescent is everywhere around us – on construction workers' vests, roadside hazard signs, baseball caps, and tee shirts. It’s been around a long time now, but it still feels fresh and synthetic but also life affirming!" Row's work is experiential rather than based on a specific message, symbol, or story. Each piece invites viewers to engage not only with their eyes but also with their bodies and minds, encouraging movement and exploration within the space.
DAVID ROW (b. 1949, Portland, Maine) lives and works in New York City and teaches painting at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He received both his B.A. in 1972 and his M.F.A. in 1975 from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. He has been honored as Scholar of the House in Painting at Yale (1971-1972) and with a National Endowment for the Arts Grant in Painting (1987). He received the Isaac N. Maynard Prize for Painting from the National Academy Museum, New York, in May 2008.
Row’s work was the subject of a solo exhibition at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland, Maine in 2021. Other solo museum shows include Ennead, originating at the Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas (2000), and traveling to The McKinney Avenue Contemporary in Dallas, Texas (2001). His work has been included in numerous group exhibitions, both nationally and internationally, including Conceptual Abstraction at Hunter College, Times Square Gallery, New York (2012); Divergent Models, at the Nassauischer Kunstverein in Wiesbaden, Germany (1997); Trois Collections d’Artistes, at the Musee des Beaux Arts in La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland (1996); Critiques of Pure Abstraction at the Armand Hammer Museum of Art at UCLA, and traveled to the Blaffer Gallery at the University of Houston (1995); and Italia/America l’Astrazione Redefinita, at the State Museum of San Marino, Italy (1993).
Recent exhibitions include The Beauty of Black and White with Rottet Collection, Loretta Howard Gallery, New York, NY (2023); Ink, Press, Repeat: A Survey of Printmaking Techniques, Childs Gallery, Boston, MA (2020); and From Gericault to Rockburne: Selections from the Michael & Juliet Rubenstein Gift, The Metropolitan Museum of Art at the Met Breuer, New York, NY (2020) along with single artist shows at Metroquadro, Torino, Italy (2019); Loretta Howard Gallery, New York (2018); and Locks Gallery, Philadelphia (2017). Row’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME; and the Sherbrooke Fine Arts Museum, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada amongst others. McClain Gallery has held solo shows for David Row in 2010, 2014, and 2024; his work was included in the 2014 group exhibition Summertime Blues.
For more information about the exhibition and David Row's work, please contact us at info@mcclaingallery.com