Stanley Whitney

To celebrate the opening, an evening of poetry and jazz with Elisa Biagini and Go_Dex Quartet will be held from 5pm to 8pm at Fondazione Nicola Del Roscio, via Francesco Crispi 18.

The color, the light, the ancient architecture—I never tire of contemplating Rome. Rome always clarifies and inspires my work. The current form of my painting started to take shape in the nineties when I was absorbed in the city and looking at ancient and Renaissance architecture. In Rome, there is an order, an ancient rhythm, that I want in my paintings. 
—Stanley Whitney

Gagosian is pleased to present new paintings by Stanley Whitney. Originally scheduled to open in April, but delayed by the pandemic, this is his first exhibition with the gallery and his first major exhibition in Rome, where he lived for five years during the 1990s. It features paintings produced both in New York and in the artist’s studio near Parma, Italy.

Whitney’s vibrant abstract paintings unlock the linear structure of the grid, imbuing it with new and unexpected cadences of color, rhythm, and space. Deriving inspiration from sources as diverse as Piet Mondrian, free jazz, and American quilt making, Whitney composes with blocks and bars that articulate a chromatic call-and-response within the bounds of each canvas.