The Elkon Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of works by John Wesley (1928-2022) which examines his career from the 1960s to the 1990s.
Wesley’s approach to painting has been categorized as pop, minimalist, and even surrealist. Unencumbered by stylistic labels he has seamlessly navigated contemporary art throughout the decades.
He received inspiration from pop imagery, comic strips such as Blondie, Olive Oyl and Bumstead, and contemporary and historical culture, among others. His works address themes ranging from humor to eroticism, sexuality, and even tragedy. His colorful palette and flat-like imagery, along with his belief that negative space and the foreground subject matter hold equal importance, draw the viewer into his playful and dream-like world.
Wesley’s first solo exhibition was at the Robert Elkon Gallery in 1963. Since then, he has gone on to have exhibitions at prominent institutions in the US and abroad, including MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, NY; the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; and the Chianti Foundation in Marta, Texas, to name a few.
Since 2004, Wesley has held a permanent exhibition room at the Chianti Foundation, which was envisioned by Donald Judd, who was a longtime friend and supporter of his work. In 2009, Wesley had a major retrospective organized by the renowned curator Germano Celant, at the Fondazione Prada, Venice.
Many of the works on view were included in his first exhibition at the Robert Elkon Gallery, as well as the Fondazione Prada retrospective.
The exhibition will be on view through January 26th, 2024. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 9:30 am - 5:30 pm and Saturday by appointment. For all inquiries please contact Vanessa Juriga: elkongallery@earthlink.net or call the gallery at 212-535-3940.