Works of the Week: David Hockney, Larry Poons, Salomón Huerta, and more
Welcoming the warmer months through seven curated June-inspired works
As the warmth of June arrives after the slow spring months, we feel ourselves unfold and begin to thaw. The transition is sacred. Playfully saturated tones, offset by cool, chlorinated blues and greens, act as a palate cleanser. Like stepping into an air-conditioned oasis after spending time in the sun, so too does the refreshing whimsy of these seven works serve to kindle our delight and anticipation for a resplendent summer season.
David Hockney, known for his verdant landscapes and swimming pools, is at the forefront of summer-themed motifs. Garden #3 is a practice in reverse perspective, an example of his early 21st-century foray into illusionism. Pioneering the hexagonal canvas, Hockney creates spaces where we are invited to pause, admire the scenery, and reflect. It is in part his lack of hearing which, as he has proclaimed, allows him to create synaesthetic and intuitive associations between sound, color, and shape. The blue slats of the balcony, slick with light, complement the refreshing green palm fronds beyond. Small pops of crimson and cerise add heat to the canvas, evoking the humidity of a tropical summer.
Rachel Marsil, an emerging talent of Senegalese heritage from France, explores identity through a colorful and multicultural lens. Currently represented by Galerie Cecile Fakhoury, her works seem to exist in a subconscious plane — one in which identity, introspection, and the human condition are interwoven. Un Besoin de se Retrouver, which translates to “a need to come together”, highlights the communal nature of Marsil’s figures. Their latency of pose, reflecting a poetic leisure, is contrasted by their direct gaze which invites the viewer to join their gathering. With the arrival of summer, we appreciate more than ever the art of communing. This season is marked by picnics in the park, sharing fruit, and playing cards beneath the sun. As Marsil reminds us, all is rendered more beautiful when in good company.
Huerta’s recent solo exhibition “Pool Paintings” at Harper’s Chelsea presented an eye-catching collection of aquatic scenes. Inspired by the pristine bodies of water he used to clean as a teenager in Malibu, Huerta personifies pools as private oases and symbols of tranquility. Memory and abstraction emerge in tandem, creating surreal scenes devoid of life — except for the immaculate vegetation, arranged delicately around the water. One is tempted to plunge in, yet the stillness of the pool makes us hesitate. As reflections ripple across the surface, the viewer engages in escapism and becomes a part of the placid, secluded setting.
Larry Poons, master of tactile pigments, interacts with the canvas in an unapologetically whimsical way. Since the 1970s, he has splashed, poured, and thrown paint across his work, employing an intuitively gestural artistic method. Woodcutters Cottage, with its soothing pastel tones, is reminiscent of June’s quiet chaos — not quite the crescendo of summer, yet far beyond the brisk uncertainty of spring. What better way to welcome the warmer months than with a gracefully abstract Poons painting?
As part of a collection of fifteen paintings, Van Gogh’s Walking Among Olive Trees is a reverent observation of the foliage and landscape of the Alpilles Mountains. While spending time at the Saint Remy private asylum, Van Gogh found solace in the olive groves nearby. Their delicately mangled branches reflected his turbulent mental state, while the symbolic potential of the trees resonated with Van Gogh’s spiritual identity. Perhaps seeking peace through color and form, he depicts an inviting locale where lovers stroll on a warm evening beneath a dusk sky.
The fifteen paintings were reunited in a 2022 exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art following research by curators in both the USA and the Netherlands.
Bibi Zogbé was lovingly known within artistic circles as “La Pintura de las Floras”, or “the flower painter”. Although originally from Sahel Alma in Lebanon, Zogbé spent a large portion of her youth and later life in Argentina. Inspired by her travels to West Africa, South America, and Lebanon, she drew from the lush greenery observed in these locales when creating her paintings. Zogbé’s exuberant style, rife with deep hues and dimensional impasto, reflected the vibrancy of her personality. Her diverse experiences and cultural identities manifest in her cactus tableaus, which highlight the unique and brazen beauty of desert plants.
Paul Gauguin, seeking refuge from the corrupt excesses of Western Civilization, traveled to Tahiti in 1891. His colonialist perspective of exoticism colored his view of this former French territory, and his travels in Tahiti are now tainted by controversy. In pursuit of authentic cultural elements, however, he showed a deep appreciation for the verdant vistas he encountered. Tahitian Landscape, among his earliest works upon arriving in Tahiti, is one such example; painted in the post-Impressionist style, this tableau employs an animated color palette and expressive contours. The unabashed tropical nature is both mysterious and beguiling. It’s a fifteen-hour flight from New York City to Tahiti — but we can let Gauguin’s works transport us, instead.