Cy Gavin: New Paintings

Gagosian presents Cy Gavin: New Paintings, the artist’s first solo exhibition in Italy, on view in Rome from 30 November 2023 to 23 January 2024. Created between April and October in Rome and New York, the paintings depict the processes of growth, decay, and resilience in nature, exploring micro- and macrocosmic phenomena rather than traditional landscapes or cityscapes.

Untitled (Wall of the Tiber) (all 2023), a massive painting of a large stone wall in Rome, is a notable feature of the exhibition. The regular black blocks of the wall are disrupted by various flowering plants growing through cracks and spreading across the surface. Another painting, Untitled (Pollarded white mulberry tree), contrasts the urban environment with the energy of nature. It depicts a street tree in shades of blue and pink, its branches trimmed to control its growth and its roots confined by a rectangular cut in the pavement. Meanwhile, Untitled (Roadside with chicory and wild carrot) juxtaposes a profusion of robust roadside weeds in white, yellow, orange and green with the uniform blacktop road below. Finally, Untitled (Converging paths), rendered with calligraphic gestures in an all-over composition, depicts a crossroads marked by human passage amidst an abundance of plant life.

Cy Gavin’s artwork symbolically interprets places shaped by human action and natural forces through vivid, expressive brushstrokes and large-scale compositions. Born in Pittsburgh in 1985 and raised in Donora, Pennsylvania, Gavin graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 2007 and Columbia University in 2016. He currently lives and works in New York’s Hudson Valley.