Gagosian Gallery

Howard Hodgkin New Paintings don’t think you can lightly paint a picture. It’s an activity I take very seriously. Hodgkin Gagosian Rome is pleased to present an exhibition of recent paintings Howard Hodgkin. This is his first exhibition in Rome since he Seven Small Paintings at the British School in 1992. In exploring the very nature of painting both as cultured language and expression, Hodgkin disregards the classical polarities of and representation, past and present, canvas and frame. compressed gestures, sweeping complex textures, a lush , and the dynamic interchange of light and dark are all traits of his distinctive signature. With their maximalist gestures and saturated colors, his more intimately scaled paintings appear jewel-like, while works are opulent and theatrical. With incorporated frames and wooden supports, they operate as both objects and images. Embracing spontaneity and directness in equal measure to the processes reflection and capitulation, it may take a year for Hodgkin to to execute a single brushstroke. The seemingly casual, urgent of his paintings belies the fact that most of them have been on for two or three years. More than ever they convey the between hand, eye, and memory that drives their process, structure, and emotional temperature. In each painting, Hodgkin’s subject is a presence that is sensed rather than apprehended, remaining resistant to interpretation, allusive and . Vibrant traces of experience inspired by everyday memories, places, and encounters are called by name in titles such as the sultry Sky at Night and its breezy inverse the edible tones of the dazzling chromatic contrast of Flowers , and the ominous sweep of Cloud . By intimating the world beyond the confines of the frame, he creates works that are at once composed, autonomous wholes and of the greater aesthetic reality that lies beyond their .