Mary Weatherford

The paintings are inspired by the color of the forest and the sea.
—Mary Weatherford

Gagosian is pleased to announce Sea and Space, an exhibition of new paintings and works on paper by Mary Weatherford at the gallery’s 980 Madison Avenue location from January 18 to March 2.

Dominated by the color green, Weatherford’s new paintings make visual reference to arboreal and aquatic environments. Some of them also revivify the pairing of empyreal and oceanic imagery that appeared in her work decades ago. There are allusions, too, to outer space, an interest reflected in and maintained by Weatherford’s collection of NASA photographs and by her visits to the Hayden Planetarium in New York.

Weatherford’s work is rooted in her experience and observation of urban and rural environments, which she employs as prompts to investigate the properties of light, color, and gesture. Often drawing inspiration from the kinds of commonplace and organic materials identified with Arte Povera, she has also studied American abstract painters of the 1950s and 1960s such as Helen Frankenthaler and Kenneth Noland. Further imbuing her paintings with spatial illusion and a spirit of existential inquiry, Weatherford has incorporated additional materials such as shells, sponges, bottle caps, and neon lights.