Shape Shifting

Hollis Taggart is pleased to present Shape Shifting, a group exhibition featuring new and recent paintings by five contemporary artists: Tommy Fitzpatrick, Debbi Kenote, Osamu Kobayashi, Kelly Worman, and Hayley Youngs.On view from November 10 to December 31, the exhibition features selections of their paintings, which make use of different mediums but are united in their emphasis on form and color. An opening reception will take place on November 10 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. in our Southport location (330 Pequot Avenue). All artists will be in attendance.  

Known for his architectural paintings, Tommy Fitzpatrick’s works in the exhibition reflect his ongoing interest in geometric articulations of space. Informed by the Bauhaus and modernist visions of architecture, his paintings translate volume, light, and perspective into crisp, hard-edged compositions, which are rendered with highly tactile impasto. Maintaining a careful balance between abstraction and representation, Fitzpatrick’s works find their departure point not in photographs but computer-aided design (CAD) software renderings. Fitzpatrick is currently a Professor of Painting at the Texas State University in San Marcos.

Taking cues from the traditions of West Coast hard-edge painting and inspired by a childhood spent in the landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, Debbi Kenote’s conceptual works experiment with patterns and abstraction. Pushing the limits of the physical substrates of art, Kenote has in recent years designed interlocking canvases that upon first glance evoke a quilt-like appearance. Bolting together panels and dyed canvas, she creates works that straddle both painting and sculpture, defying easy classification. 

Osamu Kobayashi’s elusive oil paintings allude to a variety of references, including landscapes, objects, and bodies. His formally reductive approach often coalesces three or four color blocks––sometimes rendered as gradients––and employs wide, sweeping brush strokes using several utility brushes bolted together and his whole body to achieve precision. Indeed, Kobayashi’s whimsical, playful palette is paired with incredible sharpness of line; as the artist notes, “It’s important to be precise because even abstract shapes need to be modeled so they can express the subtleties I want to convey.”

Kelly Worman creates works using unusual materials, such as satin, to arrive at abstractions that explore modern relationships on a personal, collective, and cultural scale. Often, the central shapes in her works have a bodily resonance, and her works abound with references to the female body. The use of vibrant color in Worman’s compositions creates a sense of invigoration and excitement that are juxtaposed with unusual framing conventions. Her high-energy works explore gesture, color, rhythm, and space through intuitive improvisation and offer an expression of her experiences as a woman. Worman currently teaches at Pratt Institute.

Hayley Youngs creates lavishly colorful paintings, alluding to a realm beyond the physical world, both philosophically and spiritually. Employing a visual language of esoteric shapes and curvilinear motifs, she navigates a mystical pictorial space governed by constructed landscapes and fragments of nature from memories of her travels. Drawing stylistic influence from Fauvism, Surrealism, Psychedelia, and visionary art traditions, her recent paintings metaphorize humanity's journey into the unknown and are a timely reflection of the universal desire to dream, find balance and beauty, and serve as a safe haven for collective meditation and re-orientation.

“We are excited to bring this show of four New York-based and one Houston-based artist to Southport, to introduce these five different styles to our community. We look forward to engaging visitors with the work of these incredible artists and to sparking further interest in their practices,” said Paul Efstathiou, the director of contemporary art at Hollis Taggart.

For more information about Shape Shifting, please contact us at southport@hollistaggart.com or +1 212.628.4000.