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Kate Pincus-Whitney

Feast in the Neon Jungle

January 21 – March 20, 2021

Kate Pincus-Whitney
Kate Pincus-Whitney
Kate Pincus-Whitney
Kate Pincus-Whitney
Kate Pincus-Whitney
Kate Pincus-Whitney
Kate Pincus-Whitney
Kate Pincus-Whitney
Kate Pincus-Whitney
Kate Pincus-Whitney
Kate Pincus-Whitney
Kate Pincus-Whitney
Kate Pincus-Whitney
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Feast in the Neon Jungle: Trails Home, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Feast in the Neon Jungle: All About Love/This Must Be the Place, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Feast in the Neon Jungle: Maillo's Saint Jacques, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Feast in the Neon Jungle: Anemones and Eggplants, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Theater of the Dinner Table: Dining with Hecate, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Theater of the Dinner Table: The Real McCoy...Gone Looking For America, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Feast in the Neon Jungle: Due West, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Paradise a la Carte: Superica, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Feast in the Neon Jungle: Rose of Jericho, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Paradise a la Carte: Longings (Grand Central Oyster Bar), 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Feast in the Neon Jungle: A Room of One's Own, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Feast in the Neon Jungle: Room with a View, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Feast in the Neon Jungle: Last Picnic in Providence, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Feast in the Neon Jungle: LotusLand, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Theater of the Dinner Table: Dionysian Drinking Games, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Theater of the Dinner Table: Breakfast with the BauHaus, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Theater of the Dinner Table: Although We Never Met, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Feast in the Neon Jungle: Faith in a Weed (Lilith), 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Feast in the Neon Jungle: On The Half Shell (Isis Aphrodite), 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Feast in the Neon Jungle: Vernal Equinox, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Feast in the Neon Jungle: Dinner with Dionysis, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Feast in the Neon Jungle: Late Summer Rains, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Americana Still: Tradition, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Americana Still: King of Kings, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Feast in the Neon Jungle: The Huntress Diana Cazadora, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Americana Still: Resilience of Light, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Feast in the Neon Jungle: Dreams from Cefalu (You can call me on my shell phone), 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Feast in the Neon Jungle: Let Them Eat Pie, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Naturaleza Muerta: Wild's Daffodils and Vermouth, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Feast in the Neon Jungle: Artichokes and Anchovies, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, General Store: Cajun Fry and Urchins, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Feast in the Neon Jungle: The Night the Thistles Danced at La Colombe d'Or, 2020
Kate Pincus-Whitney, Feast in the Neon Jungle: Home Harvest, 2020

Press Release

Fredericks & Freiser is pleased to introduce an exhibition of new paintings by Kate Pincus-Whitney (b. 1993, lives and works in Los Angeles). Invested in the sociopolitical and emotive possibilities of the dining table, Pincus-Whitney creates maximalist still life scenes replete with colorful and textured objects of consumption. Whether spilling out onto fabric surrounded by florae or smothering a wooden tabletop, Pincus-Whitney populates her canvases with “things”—from food and drinks, to books and candles, to various utensils and wares.  Her cosmologies of both highly personal and universally recognizable subjects gesture towards the shared necessity of sustenance. They reimagine the still life as a form of narrative portraiture and harness the psychological power of the communal meal to tap into the collective unconscious.

 

 

Unapologetic in her bold color palette, Pincus-Whitney’s scenes are boisterous and frenetic as they buzz with ineffable energy. Theatrically staged to explore the duality of the sacred and the profane, the result is a complete orchestration of a picnic or celebratory meal. Pincus-Whitney harnesses what Jane Bennett calls “thing-power”: every day man-made objects are imbued with a strange and not-fully-knowable aliveness. In Bennett’s conceptualization, we are subject to the “vital materialities” we encounter; Pincus-Whitney’s luminous objects exert their own thing-power and become acting subjects in their own right. The tablescapes read as both sacred shrine and intimate celebration wherein food acts as both symbol and icon. Through these scenes, the artist offers gratitude to a childhood raised in the kitchen by her mother and grandmother, just as she invites her audience to take part in this intimate history.  

 

 

 

As much about life as about death, Pincus-Whitney’s scenes are a contemporary investigation into the Dutch legacy of the stilleven, more appropriately called nature morte in the French tradition and naturaleza muerta in the Spanish. Apparent are the artist’s myriad sources that span cross-discipline: from the writings of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell to Maya Angelou to Tom Wesselman’s resolutely American approach to the still life genre, Judy Chicago’s feminist intervention into the foodscape, and Matisse’s ability to make juxtaposing colors vibrate, to the symbolism of Les Nabis and the aggressive, fleshy strokes of Soutine. And of course, it is hard to miss the Warholian Campbell’s Tomato Soup can that has been emptied out to house a cactus. As a self-proclaimed artist-anthropologist with a ferocious appetite, Pincus-Whitney excavates the annals of history to consider rituals of consumption alongside identity constitution. With her debut New York solo exhibition Feast in the Neon Jungle, Pincus-Whitney positions herself within a cadre of young artists who deploy the capacious logic of the painted object to assert, investigate, and critique personal narratives as well as communal politics.

 

 

Fredericks & Freiser is located at 536 West 24th Street, New York, NY. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10am - 6pm. During the COVID 19 pandemic, capacity will be limited, large groups will not be accommodated, and private appointments can be made for individual viewing. For more information, please contact us by phone: (212) 633 6555, or email: info@fredericksfreisergallery.com. Visit us on Instagram, @fredericksandfreiser.