Matthew Marks is pleased to announce the exhibitions, Ellsworth Kelly: Relief Paintings 1954–2001 and Ellsworth Kelly: Gray.

The main portion of the exhibitions, Ellsworth Kelly: Relief Paintings 1954–2001, will be six large paintings completed earlier this year. These new paintings consist of two overlapping canvases, each painted in a precise, perfectly calibrated color.

One of the new relief paintings, Yellow over Black, is composed of a square yellow canvas placed on top of a horizontal rectangular black canvas. The yellow canvas hangs down over the black canvas—flirting with the effects of gravity—even as it is a ‘lighter’ color.

The most extraordinary painting, Red over Red, is unlike any that the 78-year-old painter has made before. Inspired by two red construction flags flickering in the wind that Kelly saw on a busy New York street, the painting is composed of two bright-red square canvases placed diagonally on the wall with the lower canvas slightly overlapping the corner of the upper canvas. Through this simple juxtaposition the viewer focuses on the intensity of red yet also on the impossibility of believing that the two reds are identical.

Also on view will be six earlier relief paintings that document Kelly’s lifelong interest in the relief form. The earliest work, Two Yellows, from 1954, was the last painting Kelly made in Paris (where he had been living for six years) before returning to New York. Blue Tablet, from 1962, was included in the seminal exhibition at the Jewish Museum, Toward a New Abstraction, and has not been shown in the U.S. for 25 years. White over Dark Blue and Blue over Yellow, two paintings from 1968, are being shown for the first time.

Ellsworth Kelly: Relief Paintings 1954–2001 will be accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue with 21 color plates and an essay by Sarah Rich, Assistant Professor of Art History at Penn State University.

Ellsworth Kelly: Gray consists of five paintings executed between 1975 and 1977. These paintings are part of a larger series of twelve works Kelly started in 1972 and did not complete until 1983. Originally conceived as an anti-war statement, the paintings are drained of color, and what remains is a myriad of gray, a color whose definition Kelly explores through experiments of juxtaposition and form.

Ellsworth Kelly: Relief Paintings 1954–2001 will be on view at 522 West 22nd Street through June 29th. Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM.

Ellsworth Kelly: Gray will be on view at 523 West 24th Street through June 29th. Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM.

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