5 Standout Shows to See at Small Galleries This December
In this monthly roundup, we shine the spotlight on five stellar exhibitions taking place at small and rising galleries worldwide.
It’s rare to discover a survey of contemporary painting as consistently intriguing as Rolando Anselmi’s “About Painting” exhibition series. This year’s installment, “About Painting III,” showcases nine international artists, including Brazilian painter Ana Claudia Almeida and American artist Paul Rouphail, each presenting their distinctive approaches to the medium.
Among the selection of exceptional paintings, American painter Olivia Hill’s “Oceanfront Property” series stands out. Her series portrays a blend of natural and imagined landscapes, subtly illustrating the human impact on nature. Italian artist Andrea Respino’s dreamy Infastidite Acque #5 and Le Calde Correnti (2023) similarly draws viewers into a fluid, ethereal environment.
Throughout “About Painting III,” the artists consistently captivate us with their exploration of the uncanny. This is even evident in Rouphail’s still life Hothouse Flowers (2023), where he manipulates light, shadow, and reflection to add a layer of depth and intrigue to the familiar image of flowers on a table.
Adam Baker, a London-based figurative painter, probes the depths of self-discovery through his pensive subjects. His work, often illustrating introspective masculine figures, is influenced by his experiences of travel and his journey as a queer individual navigating the world. In his debut solo exhibition, “Passing through the Soft Storm,” Baker creates a space for open interpretation and reflection, inviting viewers to connect with the figures in his paintings.
The exhibition of 15 paintings is anchored in a profound longing for acceptance. A notable theme in Baker’s art is the exploration of queer identity in a world often unaccommodating for queer individuals. The artist symbolizes this through pigeons, creatures thriving in an unfriendly environment, mirroring the queer community’s resilience and quest for acceptance—a motif particularly evident in Abhorred Affections (2023). Baker’s show examines masquerades and non-conformity, underscoring the impact of being distant from familiar surroundings and relationships.
Constanza Camilla Kramer Garfias, “Eat. Sleep. Drift. Repeat.”
PERG, Ludwigsburg, Germany
Nov. 23, 2023–Jan. 21, 2024
For over a decade, Constanza Camilla Kramer Garfias has mastered jacquard weaving—a technique dating back to the 15th century. Educated in textile design at the University of Arts and Design Burg Giebichenstein in Saale, Germany, Kramer Garfias melds concepts of industrial production with traditional handcraft in her “Autodrift” series. These textile works, focused on car races and drift driving, present subjects—mostly race cars—in motion, reflecting the fleeting beauty and vitality of a high-speed moment.
“Eat. Sleep. Drift. Repeat.” is a testament to Kramer Garfias’s innovative approach to textiles, where each piece narrates a story of motion, color, and texture. Her fascination with the culture of drift racing stems from the idea that these races are “magical” performances. As a bystander, following the speeding cars with your eye is nearly impossible, so Kramer Garfias felt compelled to capture these blurred movements. Works such as lead / chase (2023), depicting two cars mid-turn, capture the transient scenes in these races, conveying the sense of danger and awe that first inspired Kramer Garfias to pick this unlikely subject.
Canadian artist Michael Batty current show “Tone Poem” reflects the artist’s decades spent studying color theory. These paintings, where solid color blocks are arranged into a three-by-three rectangle, explore the similarities between color, pattern, and language. Inspired by poetics, these arrangements use a finite number of colors to evoke visual experiences—both harmonious and discordant. Additionally, the artist constructs these color palettes by taking an improvisational approach, underlining their musical and literary foundations.
Batty refers to the “Tone Poems” series as “visual haikus,” designed to bring together disparate elements to convey more profound messages. Like haikus, Batty’s art is structured by a strict layout, but their emotional resonance or range are not hampered by these limitations. Some paintings, like Tone Poem 13 (2018), illustrate sharp contrasts between bright colors, whereas others, like Tone Poem 12 (2018), employing soft hues, elicit a calmer visual experience. Throughout, the paintings are filled with not only a spectrum of colors but also a spectrum of emotions.
German painter Gregor Gleiwitz is known for his sweeping abstract canvases, characterized by vast fields of color. His paintings are distinguished by their richly textured, scratched, scraped, and ruptured surfaces, each layer adding meaning to the work. To document the passing of time, Gleiwitz titles each piece with its completion date, offering a glimpse into the evolution of his artistic process.
For his current exhibition, “Sun Script,” Gleiwitz began by immersing himself in his primary subject matter: the sun. During sun-drenched countryside walks, he created watercolor sketches of the scenes he encountered. Back in his studio, he reimagined these sketches as large-scale oil paintings. Here, he transformed his initial impressions into complex compositions of tangled curves and vivid colors, each piece radiating with an intensity akin to the sun’s glare.
For Gleiwitz, paintings are not solely visual spectacles, but documentation of his experiences. As he paints, he endeavors to find a balance between the ordered and disordered perceptions of the world around him—soaked and distorted in sunlight.
