Building Models: The Shape of Painting

Curated by Saul Ostrow

Ron Gorchov, Gwenaël Kerlidou, Russell Maltz, Joe Overstreet, Joanna Pousette-Dart,
Harvey Quaytman, Ruth Root, David Row, Ted Stamm, and Li Trincere

Opening on September 5, 2025 – January 17, 2026

David Row
Phantom, 2022
oil on linen, 52 x 89 inches
Courtesy of Locks Gallery
Photo by Joseph Hu

Building Models: The Shape of Painting is the latest installment in an ongoing series of exhibitions I began curating in 1985 under the general heading Building Models. This project encompasses two sub-series: Painting Between the Paradigms and Strategies. Influenced by the structural and conceptual shifts that fueled the critique of Modernism, my intent with these exhibitions is to index the diverse nature of abstract painting’s formalist strategies as they morph between 1951 and 1974-the year Artforum famously announced the so-called "death" of painting. During this period, critically re-evaluation,  abstract art shifted conceptually from a mode of representation to an event/ object in the world.

By spanning three generations, this exhibition invites viewers to reconsider how formal decisions about shape and structure are never neutral but instead carry significant conceptual and aesthetic weight. The show offers a review of abstract painting’s alternative formats-those conceived to both extend and challenge the conventional rectangular (quadrangular) shape that had long been seen as painting’s norm. The artists featured here have critically re-examined the functions of painting’s traditional format, especially as it was challenged by Modernist artists  who sought to ground their medium’s capacities in its own material conditions. It was during this era that the painting’s support and surface, once largely overlooked, could no longer be regarded as passive; instead, they emerged as active agents in shaping composition, content, and concept.

Reflecting these historical and theoretical developments, the works in this exhibition present a diverse range of approaches that address what had been suppressed, rendered unattainable, or constrained by material conventions rooted in formalism. By moving beyond these conventions, the artists probe the ongoing relevance and complexity of abstract painting, fostering a dynamic interplay between the real and the depicted.

The assembled works exemplify distinct strategies, demonstrating how painters-while maintaining the essential frontality of painting-have manipulated format to reorder the viewer’s experience. Ultimately, Building Models: The Shape of Painting highlights how artists continue to renew abstract art’s engagement with materiality, perception, and cognition. The exhibition affirms that this tradition remains a vital means for reimagining the relationship between artwork and viewer.

The works in this exhibition represent ten different models of how painters have utilized the shaping of their works to redefine the viewer’s experiential encounter with abstract painting.  The exhibition includes:

1. Architectural: Ted Stamm’s Zephyr series incorporates geometric precision and architectural placement to create a dialogue between the painting and the viewer’s space.

2. Parts to the Whole: Gwenaël Kerlidou explores modularity and fragmentation, emphasizing the interplay between components and the whole.

3. Making Itself: Russell Maltz employs industrial materials and processes that allow compositions to emerge organically, emphasizing materiality and process.

4. Structure as Image: Harvey Quaytman foregrounds the relationship between surface and support, using an indexical approach to these structural elements to create a self-referential image.

5. Collage: Ruth Root combines the materiality of the supports with sewn and patterned elements, blurring distinctions between object,  surface and image.

6. Shaping the Field: Ron Gorchov’s saddle-like canvases curve outward, challenging flatness and inviting multi-angled engagement.

7. Optical Logic: Li Trincere’s canvases are meticulously designed to engage perception through optical logic; the geometry of the support interacts with colored shapes to generate dynamic visual effects.

8. Literal and Intuitive: Joanna Pousette-Dart uses shaped and multi-paneled canvases to guide the viewer’s eye and integrate her painting’s form as an active compositional device.

9. Fractured Form: David Row literally uses the physical objects to crop and interrupt his imagery, and  then assembles the fragments into sensical wholes.

10. Support and Surface: Joe Overstreet’s asymmetrical, shaped works emphasize the interplay of color, material, and form, while extending the painting into the viewer’s space.

With these ten models, the exhibition demonstrates how the shaping of painting continues to influence and challenge both the painting as a medium and the viewer’s encounter with the abstract made concrete, ensuring its ongoing vitality and relevance.

Saul Ostrow