Brice Marden

Gagosian is pleased to announce I Am Plane Image, a comprehensive survey of paintings by Brice Marden at the West 21st Street gallery in New York. Presented in collaboration with the Estate of Brice Marden, this is the first such exhibition of the artist’s work in the city in twenty years. Spanning six decades, the presentation includes major institutional loans from the Art Institute of Chicago, Whitney Museum of American Art, and others, as well as significant works from the Estate and notable private collections. It offers a historic opportunity to view works that have rarely, if ever, been exhibited before. In tandem, Gagosian, again in collaboration with the Estate, will publish Brice Marden: Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, 1961–2023, edited by scholar Tiffany Bell. Documenting nearly five hundred works, the book represents the most comprehensive study of his paintings to date.

The exhibition emphasizes Marden’s lifelong exploration of the plane and the material presence of his work. “For me,” he stated, “the history of modern art is tightening the relationship of the image to the plane. . . . The whole history of twentieth-century art seems to be where you work up to the ultimate plane image. You try to keep the plane and the image locked together.” Marden’s distinct contribution to painting lies in his synthesis of a broad range of art historical influences, which anchor paintings that address the natural world. He traveled extensively, living in multiple locations and working predominantly with natural light.

From the mid-1960s, Marden immersed himself in the cultural scene of New York, congregating at Max’s Kansas City with the era’s pioneering artists, writers, and musicians. Nebraska (1966)—the earliest painting in the exhibition—was inspired by the “surprising” landscape of the midwest United States after a cross-country road trip. Marden retained the painting and displayed it in his home throughout his life. From this time onward, while often spending time on the Greek island of Hydra, he began to employ the brighter palette seen in Summer Table (1972–73). He also introduced a technique that would become a trademark—heightening the effect of each tint, plane, and brushstroke by adding beeswax and turpentine to oil paint and applying it in multiple layers.