The How To Guide To Painting

It might not be a popular opinion, but I feel that predictability works in the creative sphere. Certain harmonies or chord combinations always hit the right spot in music, and similarly, certain motifs, color palettes, formats, or compositions often do the job in painting and other visual art. After seeing a few of her shows, I think Nicole Eisenman is the exception that proves the rule. With unpredictability as one of the main qualities, her current London solo at Sadie Coles HQ is a case in point.

All eyes might be on Paris this week (more than just for art), but London is still hosting some major (painting) blockbuster exhibitions. Of course I’ll take Fratino, Toor, or Williams any day, but I’m surprised by how little attention I’ve seen for Eisenman’s solo or her massive sculpture Stack, 2026, in the Royal Academy courtyard. That said, perhaps it’s the way her practice refuses definition and categorization that puts off people, critics, and art sleuths. I understand that one would rather review or speak about a coherent body of work that’s evidently coming from a single source than an orgy of mediums, aesthetics, formats, and everything in between.

In her last NYC show, Eisenman had large marble sculptures, slightly sci-fi-ish and reminiscent of heroic socialist realist monuments, displayed alongside her celebrated paintings. In London, she has The Polymorphs, 2026, a sculpture reminiscent of a circuit-board blueprint rather than something figurative (along with an accompanying print), displayed alongside a 6-panel beast of a painting, The Orgy, 2026. This is a unique way of rejecting tradition, systems, and hierarchies, and of cramming materials, moments, moods, or entire worlds and galaxies into a single work. Her paintings alone range from fairly minimalist, semi-abstract, intuitive explorations of form and color to elaborate depictions of complex scenes. Not afraid to subvert any of them with an unexpected element, Eisenman captures contemporary society's unhinged complexity in an unparalleled way. And if I had close-up photos, you'd see how well they function on a macro, paint-nerd level. —Saša Bogojev