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Neil Jenney

The Bad Years 1969–70

March 8–April 13, 2001
980 Madison Avenue, New York

Neil Jenney, Man and Challenge, 1969 Acrylic on canvas with painted wood frame, 59 ½ × 71 ⅜ inches (151.1 × 181.3 cm)

Neil Jenney, Man and Challenge, 1969

Acrylic on canvas with painted wood frame, 59 ½ × 71 ⅜ inches (151.1 × 181.3 cm)

Neil Jenney, Admonition and Inexperience, 1969 Acrylic on canvas with painted wood frame, 58 ⅝ × 59 ¾ inches (148.9 × 151.8cm)

Neil Jenney, Admonition and Inexperience, 1969

Acrylic on canvas with painted wood frame, 58 ⅝ × 59 ¾ inches (148.9 × 151.8cm)

Neil Jenney, Birds and Jets, 1969 Acrylic on canvas with painted wood frame, 61 × 71 ¾ inches (154.9 × 182.2cm)

Neil Jenney, Birds and Jets, 1969

Acrylic on canvas with painted wood frame, 61 × 71 ¾ inches (154.9 × 182.2cm)

Neil Jenney, Brushed and Broomed, 1969 Acrylic and graphite on canvas with painted wood frame, 54 ½ × 52 ½ inches (138.4 × 133.4cm)

Neil Jenney, Brushed and Broomed, 1969

Acrylic and graphite on canvas with painted wood frame, 54 ½ × 52 ½ inches (138.4 × 133.4cm)

Neil Jenney, Here and There, 1969 Acrylic on canvas with painted wood frame, 58 ½ × 78 ½ inches (148.6 × 199.4cm)

Neil Jenney, Here and There, 1969

Acrylic on canvas with painted wood frame, 58 ½ × 78 ½ inches (148.6 × 199.4cm)

Neil Jenney, Homogeneous Collection, 1969 Acrylic on canvas with painted wood frame, 58 ¼ × 136 ½ inches (148 × 346.7cm)

Neil Jenney, Homogeneous Collection, 1969

Acrylic on canvas with painted wood frame, 58 ¼ × 136 ½ inches (148 × 346.7cm)

About

Gagosian is pleased to announce an exhibition of 1969–70 paintings by Neil Jenney. This is the artist’s first solo gallery exhibition in nearly twelve years, and will include over twenty-five paintings from this critical period in Jenney’s career.

Jenney’s unique style of realism developed in the late ’60s as a direct reaction to the minimalist and hyperrealist styles of the time. He aimed to create a new form of realism, where narrative truth was found in the simple relationships of objects. He paired landscape features, animals and figures, exploring such themes as technological progress, emotion, and survival. Jenney’s deceivingly simple imagery and textual juxtapositions convey the temporal coexistence of these objects in both the real and the imagined world.

Jenney paints in a manner described by Marcia Tucker in 1978 as “Bad Painting.” The elements are pared down to their most essential colors and forms. Green is landscape or grass, blue is sky or water, brown is wood flooring or dirt. All the paintings are composed by Jenney’s signature brushstrokes, graphic markings, and framed by his own painted wood frames.

A fully illustrated catalogue with an essay by Paul Gardner will be published on the occasion of the exhibition.