New York, NY - Acquavella Galleries is pleased to present White | Black, a group exhibition on display until September 28, 2018.

On view will be works by Miquel Barceló, Louise Bourgeois, Jean Dubuffet, Jacob El Hanani, Keith Haring, Rashid Johnson, Robert Longo, Manolo Millares, Joaquín Torres-García, and Andy Warhol in a variety of mediums. Though many of these artists are known for using bold, saturated color, they have originated styles so individualized that their aesthetic developments are legible in monochrome. In presenting the highly distinctive, yet often unseen paintings, sculpture, and works on paper, White and Black forefronts the juxtaposition of line, texture, and shadow. Through the elimination of color, comparisons across and between various time periods, artistic movements, geographic borders, and aesthetic styles are made possible.

White and Black will juxtapose works that engage in bold formal dialogues. Included in this exhibition will be Haring’s Untitled (1982), Longo’s Untitled (Wall of Ice) (2016), Barceló’s Implosion-Explosion (2013), and Johnson’s Cosmic Slop “He Said, She Said” (2014). Haring’s use of bold outlines in his ink on paper mural, Longo’s delicate graphite shading, Barceló’s building up of texture, and Johnson’s scraping away paint to highlight negative space illustrate unique approaches to line that quickly became part of each artist’s aesthetic. Grouping these works—among others—shapes a more nuanced and original understanding of the artists’ development and influences.

In the exhibition, white and black—both colors that are heavily steeped in symbolic associations—serve as the ultimate foil to one another. In focusing on the contrast between the two colors, rather than a grayscale continuum, this exhibition diverges from the typical associations of black and white, instead reveling in the crisp abstract, gesture, and contours of the artworks. The delineation of white vs black as light vs dark, birth vs death, pure vs marked, and so many opposites, mirrors a similar delineation that often presents itself in art-world categorizations. In embracing contrast, this exhibition encourages a conversation across Cotemporary and Modern, European and American, and Pop and Minimalist movements.