George Adams Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new paintings and works on paper by Andrew Lenaghan in what will be the artist’s thirteenth at the gallery. This is the first time Lenaghan’s work on paper has been publicly shown, though they have always been an integral part of his practice. Done in sketchbooks and more or less spontaneously, they range from quick sketches to fully rendered paintings. On view is a selection of these most recent works on paper, alongside a number of his circular paintings.  

Over the past two years, Lenaghan has been further exploring the relationship between how we see and how to represent space – a prime concern of his considering the preponderance of his painting is done from life. Recently he has been experimenting with a circular frame, both in an attempt to more closely emulate the natural curve of the eye’s lens and to undermine preconceptions about space and perspective inherent to a rectangle. Around the same time, he began working with acrylics and the sketchbooks are an opportunity for experimentation with both the medium and formal techniques of perspective. This is evident in a number of the works that spill out of the circle, expanding to accommodate the scene. Contrasted with the paintings on panels, the work on paper has a freedom and responsiveness, emphasizing their experimental nature. While the subjects will be familiar to anyone who knows Lenghan’s work: the neighborhoods of Brooklyn where he lives, his own home, the Gowanus Canal and other recurring themes all appear in these paintings.

Andrew Lenaghan was born and raised in New Brunswick, NJ, received his BFA from Cornell University and his MFA from Brooklyn College. His work is in the collections of Yale University’s Art Gallery, the Flint Art institute in Michigan, the Greenville County Museum of Art, and Middlebury College’s Museum of Art, among others. In 2011 he was a grant recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation, he currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.