Thomas Nozkowski : Everything in the World
Thomas Nozkowski: Everything in the World540 West 25th Street, New York, NY 10001March 8–April20, 2024 Photography courtesy Pace Gallery
New York – Pace is pleased to present an exhibition of works by Thomas Nozkowski at its 540 West 25th Street gallery in New York which opened on March 8 and will be on view until April 20. Focusing on the artist’s practice during the 1970s and 1980s, this presentation, titled Thomas Nozkowski: Everything in the World, will include the artist’s signature, intimatelyF scaled 16” x 20” canvas compositions alongside several large-scale paintings that have not been publicly exhibited in decades and three painted wood sculptures. The show will be accompanied by a new catalogue produced by Pace Publishing, featuring a new essay by Martin Clark, director of the Camden Art Centre in London.
Untitled (6-36), 1987 PAINTING oil on linen on panel 16" × 20" (40.6 cm × 50.8 cm) 17" × 21" × 1-1/2" (43.2 cm × 53.3 cm × 3.8 cm), framed No. 89583 © Thomas Nozkowski, courtesy Pace Gallery
Over more than four decades, Nozkowski developed a singular approach to painting that rejected established aesthetic conventions.The artist, who died in 2019 at age 75, is known for his richly colored and textured abstractions inspired by his memories, everyday experiences, and encounters in the landscapes surrounding his longtime home in upstate New York. In this way, he developed a distinctive visual language of forms, symbols, and notations grounded in his own reality while defying obvious legibility. Constellations of biomorphic and geometric abstractions become worlds unto themselves, which Nozkowski forged as part of a lengthy and exacting process.
Untitled (4-120), 1986 PAINTING oil on linen on panel 16" × 20" (40.6 cm × 50.8 cm) 17" × 21" × 1-1/2" (43.2 cm × 53.3 cm × 3.8 cm), framed No. 89579© Thomas Nozkowski, courtesy Pace Gallery
In this exhibition of his work, it centers on a hugely formative period of the artist’s career during which he set out specific aesthetic terms for his practice. The show’s title, Everything in the World, brings the relationship between Nozkowski’s abstractions and his daily observations to the fore. Anything and everything in his environment—an object, a surface, a quality of light—could capture his curiosity and attention, becoming the source material for a painting.
Untitled (4-14), 1982 PAINTING oil on linen on panel 16" × 20" (40.6 cm × 50.8 cm) No. 89575 © Thomas Nozkowski, courtesy Pace Gallery
Breaking away from the aesthetics of Minimalism and Abstract Expressionism, the artist embarked on an intensely experimental journey, raising formal and conceptual questions about the expressive potential of abstraction that he would continue revisiting in the decades to come—and that would define his approach for the rest of his life. The 1970s and 1980s also saw major changes in Nozkowski’s personal life, including the birth of his son and the purchase of his first property in New York’s Hudson Valley—a place that would become an enduring inspiration for his work.
Thomas Nozkowski: Everything in the World 540 West 25th Street, New York, NY 10001March 8–April 20, 2024 Photography courtesy Pace Gallery
The artist made fewer than ten large-scale canvases in his life, and four of these rare works will be exhibited with more than 20 of his classic, small-scale paintings in Pace’s forthcoming show in New York. Three of Nozkowski’s idiosyncratic, conical, painted wood sculptures from 1979 will also figure in the presentation—these objects reflect his interest in the material presence and physicality of paint in its encounters with different surfaces. Together, these works speak to the exploratory ethos that guided Nozkowski over the course of two decades. For immediate release Arriving in New York after the first wave of Abstract Expressionism and during the rise of Pop Art and Minimalism,
Untitled (2-94), 1975 PAINTING oil on linen on panel 16" × 20" (40.6 cm × 50.8 cm) 17" × 21" × 1-1/2" (43.2 cm × 53.3 cm × 3.8 cm) No. 89571© Thomas Nozkowski, courtesy Pace Gallery
Thomas Nozkowski (b. 1944, Teaneck, New Jersey; d. 2019, New York) completed his undergraduate degree in 1967 at Cooper Union. He defied the dismissal of painting at the time, embracing the medium and dedicating himself to an inventive and focused body of work attuned to his subjective experience of the world. His prolific oeuvre reveals an ability to shift between various media, ranging from ballpoint pen and pencil to gouache and oils. Eschewing large-scale formats and resistant to established styles or recurrent motifs, Nozkowski developed a varied and influential artistic practice.
Untitled (2-59), 1979 PAINTING oil paint on canvas board 16" × 20" (40.6 cm × 50.8 cm) 17" × 21" × 1-1/2" (43.2 cm × 53.3 cm × 3.8 cm), framed No. 64470 © Thomas Nozkowski, courtesy Pace Gallery
Pace is a leading international art gallery representing some of the most influential contemporary artists and estates from the past century, holding decades-long relationships with Alexander Calder, Jean Dubuffet, Barbara Hepworth, Agnes Martin, Louise Nevelson, and Mark Rothko. Pace enjoys a unique U.S. heritage spanning East and West coasts through its early support of artists central to the Abstract Expressionist and Light and Space movements.
Since its founding by Arne Glimcher in 1960, Pace has developed a distinguished legacy as an artist-first gallery that mounts seminal historical and contemporary exhibitions. Under the current leadership of CEO Marc Glimcher, Pace continues to support its artists and share their visionary work with audiences worldwide by remaining at the forefront of innovation. Now in its seventh decade, the gallery advances its mission through a robust global program— comprising exhibitions, artist projects, public installations, institutional collaborations, performances, and interdisciplinary projects. Pace has a legacy in art bookmaking and has published over five hundred titles in close collaboration with artists, with a focus on original scholarship and on introducing new voices to the art historical canon.
Today, Pace has seven locations worldwide, including European footholds in London and Geneva as well as Berlin, where the gallery established an office in 2023. Pace maintains two galleries in New York—its headquarters at 540 West 25th Street, which welcomed almost 120,000 visitors and programmed 20 shows in its first six months, and an adjacent 8,000 sq. ft. exhibition space at 510 West 25th Street. Pace’s long and pioneering history in California includes a gallery in Palo Alto, which was open from 2016 to 2022. Pace’s engagement with Silicon Valley’s technology industry has had a lasting impact on the gallery at a global level, accelerating its initiatives connecting art and technology as well as its work with experiential artists. Pace consolidated its West Coast activity through its flagship in Los Angeles, which opened in 2022. Pace was one of the first international galleries to establish outposts in Asia, where it operates permanent gallery spaces in Hong Kong and Seoul, along with an office and viewing room in Beijing. In spring 2024, Pace will open its first gallery space in Japan in Tokyo’s new Azabudai Hills development.
For more information about this exhibition and others, please visit the Pace Gallery’s website here. Pace Gallery can be found on Instagram and Artsy, too.
