WARREN ISENSEE | 2 February - 11 March 2023 | Miles McEnery Gallery

WARREN ISENSEE

2 FEBRUARY - 11 MARCH 2023
MILES MCENERY GALLERY IS PLEASED TO PRESENT AN EXHIBITION OF RECENT WORK BY WARREN ISENSEE. THE ARTIST'S SECOND SOLO exhibition with the gallery OPENS 2 FEBRUARY AT 515 WEST 22ND STREET AND WILL REMAIN ON VIEW THROUGH 11 MARCH. Accompanying the exhibition is A FULLY ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE FEATURING AN ESSAY BY CHARLOTTA KOTIK.
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New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Warren Isensee,’ 2 February - 11 March 2023
Image: Christopher Burke Studio. Courtesy of the artist and Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY
Read all about Warren Isensee's sensational new exhibition in New York Magazine, Whitehot Magazine, and Widewalls.

"Warren Isensee’s tightly rendered wobbly shapes always seem to breathe with the pleasure of their own making, even winking at you over how strange their compressed state is. Bright colors and rich, creamy surfaces keep the eye moving in admiration of shape, scale, and texture." - Jerry Saltz for New York Magazine

"The more one studies the paintings the more one’s thoughts begin to shift from field of vision to feel of vision." - David Ambrose for Whitehot Magazine

"The works are organic and technical at the same time, creating an energy field from pulses of colour and form. Executed with high precision, they show exceptional craftsmanship in adherence to symmetry that often culminates in free-flowing improvisations." - Eli Anapur for Widewalls
WARREN ISENSEE

Almost Blue, 2021

Oil on canvas

50 x 50 inches

127 x 127 cm
"Warren Isensee is endlessly resourceful. Within the larger framework of geometric abstraction, with which his work is associated, he is a maverick of many surprises. Even when the formal elements of his work change profoundly, his brilliance of execution—whether we are confronted with a large canvas or a very small drawing—remains constant.”

- Charlotta Kotik in "The Daring Geometries of Warren Isensee"
WARREN ISENSEE

Full Bloom, 2021

Oil on canvas

60 x 60 inches

152.4 x 152.4 cm
Warren Isensee studio, 2022, New York, NY
"Isensee resolutely explores the agglomerations of strictly geometric shapes or parallel lines, often confined within the frames of the larger rectangles and frequently stacked on top of each other. In these works, the architectural rigor of structural balance is omnipresent."

- Charlotta Kotik in "The Daring Geometries of Warren Isensee"
WARREN ISENSEE

Funhouse, 2021

Oil on canvas

35 x 35 inches

88.9 x 88.9 cm
WARREN ISENSEE

Smiling Buddha, 2021

Oil on canvas

50 x 50 inches

127 x 127 cm
"Rendered in neon-like hues, the linear elements seem to pulsate, as if stepping from the confines of the canvas into the open. Concentric rectangular shapes seem to recede into the depth of pictorial space. Visual effects growing from the careful calibration of proportions, colors, and shapes makes one recall some effects of the Op Art movement, seen through twenty-first century experience.”

- Charlotta Kotik in "The Daring Geometries of Warren Isensee"
WARREN ISENSEE

Background Noise, 2022

Oil on canvas

40 x 40 inches

101.6 x 101.6 cm
WARREN ISENSEE

Do Si Do, 2022

Oil on canvas

52 x 70 inches

132.1 x 177.8 cm
Warren Isensee studio, 2022, New York, NY
"…mostly rectilinear elements are arranged in new configurations that are often reminiscent of hieroglyphic signs in tablets of unknown languages. Ideas for many of these were first explored in small drawings meticulously rendered with colored pencils. Isensee is an inveterate draftsman, so these works stand on their own and are the true linchpins in his working process."

- Charlotta Kotik in "The Daring Geometries of Warren Isensee"
WARREN ISENSEE

Gentle Cycle, 2022

Oil on canvas

40 x 40 inches

101.6 x 101.6 cm
WARREN ISENSEE

Hello Darkness, 2022

Oil on canvas

40 x 40 inches

101.6 x 101.6 cm
Warren Isensee studio, 2022, New York, NY
WARREN ISENSEE

Order of the Arrow, 2022

Oil on canvas

40 x 40 inches

101.6 x 101.6 cm
WARREN ISENSEE

Pivot and Torque, 2022

Oil on canvas

16 x 24 inches

40.6 x 61 cm
Warren Isensee studio, 2022, New York, NY

"It is in drawings that the new ideas are tested. A few years ago, the lines that had been confined into strict geometries began to rebel. They began to twist and turn, to bulge out, to create unexpected shapes that hover somewhere between cartoonish and slightly psychedelic imagery."

- Charlotta Kotik in "The Daring Geometries of Warren Isensee"
WARREN ISENSEE

Something or Other, 2022

Oil on canvas

40 x 40 inches

101.6 x 101.6 cm
Warren Isensee in his studio, 2022, New York, NY

"We can follow the subtle changes affecting all of the elements during the translation of drawing into painting. Expanding upon this translation, Isensee has noted that 'Drawing is like writing a song and painting is playing it—with room for interpretation and improvisation. I’ve always thought of creating an exhibition as my new album."

- Charlotta Kotik in "The Daring Geometries of Warren Isensee"
WARREN ISENSEE

Sur le Motif, 2022

Oil on canvas

75 x 75 inches

190.5 x 190.5 cm
"...these paintings go beyond formal. They are complex collaborations of line, shape and color in which everything coalesces into a kind of visual equality, to beautiful, and inspiring, effect. They also testify to how much time and work is required to become the artist that only you and no one else can be."

- Roberta Smith in "Four Art Gallery Shows to See Right Now: Warren Isensee", The New York Times, 5 August, 2020
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WARREN ISENSEE

The Living Daylights, 2022

Oil on canvas

40 x 40 inches

101.6 x 101.6 cm
WARREN ISENSEE

To Be Clear, 2022

Oil on canvas

40 x 40 inches

101.6 x 101.6 cm
WARREN ISENSEE

Back Pocket, 2023

Oil on canvas

30 x 30 inches

76.2 x 76.2 cm
WARREN ISENSEE

Upside Downer, 2023

Oil on canvas

30 x 30 inches

76.2 x 76.2 cm
Warren Isensee studio, 2022, New York, NY
Warren Isensee in his studio, 2022, New York, NY

Warren Isensee (b. 1956 in Asheville, NC) studied architecture at the University of Oklahoma before majoring in painting and graphic design. In 1999, he received the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant and, in 2007, received the Purchase Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters after participating in the annual Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts.

His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Danese/Corey, New York, NY; Kevin Bruk Gallery, Miami, FL; Massimo Audiello, New York, NY; Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY; Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Pamela Salisbury Gallery, Hudson, NY; and Tricia Collins Contemporary Art, New York, NY.

Isensee has been included in group exhibitions at institutions including the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY; College of Saint Rose, Albany, NY; Elaine L. Jacob Gallery, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI; Herter Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA; Museum of Contemporary Art, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, NY; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, KS; and The National Arts Club, New York, NY.

His work may be found in the collections of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, TX; Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Neuberger Berman Collection, New York, NY; Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS; and The Penn Art Collection, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, among others.

The artist lives and works in New York, NY.
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- Warren Isensee
  Untitled , 2021
  Colored pencil on paper
  Paper Dimensions: 6 7/8 x 5 inches
  17.5 x 12.7 cm
  Image Dimensions: 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches
  6.4 x 6.4 cm
- Warren Isensee
  Untitled , 2021
  Colored pencil on paper
  Paper Dimensions: 6 7/8 x 5 inches
  17.5 x 12.7 cm
  Image Dimensions: 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches
  6.4 x 6.4 cm

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