Jennifer Guidi: Rituals

As an artist, it’s my job to be in service of a viewer, in terms of creating a sense of calm and a sense of joy. I want to add beauty to the world and fight the chaos.
—Jennifer Guidi

Gagosian is pleased to present Rituals, an exhibition of new paintings by Jennifer Guidi, on view at 541 West 24th Street from January 17, 2024.

Rituals features a series of paintings that explore the sublime beauty of mountainscapes and the color spectrum. These carefully crafted compositions are not mere representations; they imagine elevated terrains inspired by the artist’s deep connection to nature and her personal and artistic rituals. Developed through repetitive actions and processes, each painting emerges as if from a meditative journey, manifested through Guidi’s investigations of color, form, texture, and material.

To make these radiant works, Guidi uses an intricate technique, shaping them with a mix of oil and acrylic paint and sand—and rocks in some instances—to construct imagined landscapes from a careful orchestration of marks. To the linen canvas support she applies a base layer of sand permeated with paint. She then makes impressions into the still-wet surface with a wooden dowel, creating divots in repeated patterns that radiate out from the paintings’ central points like mandalas. Finally, she composes with pointillist dots and gradients of brilliant color to shape their dynamic topographies. A harmonious blend of tranquility and intensity, this body of work invites viewers to embark on a visual exploration of the artist’s emotional and spiritual landscape.

Mountains are a powerful symbol; grounded and reaching toward the celestial realm, they signify strength and resilience in the face of worldly forces. Guidi’s works evoke the rugged peaks that surround Los Angeles, where she lives and works. They resonate as well with the landscape of Provence in the South of France, where she recently presented a selection of paintings for Mountain Range, her 2023 exhibition at the Richard Rogers Gallery at Château La Coste in Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade. For these works, Guidi was inspired by the light and landscape unique to the region, along with the legacy of artists who worked there, notably Paul Cezanne, Vincent van Gogh, and Henri Matisse.

Words and Images via Gagosian Gallery.

Artwork photos by Brica Wilcox. Installation photos by Maris Hutchinson.