Green
As the dominant color in nature, we are at home with green anywhere in the house. Light greens work well in baths and living rooms; mid-range greens are a great accent for kitchens and dining rooms. The calming effect of green makes it popular in hospitals, schools and work environments. (The Rohm and Haas Paint Quality Institute)

NEW YORK—The Paula Cooper Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by Wayne Gonzales. The exhibition will be on view from March 19 through April 16, 2005, at 534 West 21st Street. This will be the artist’s fourth one-person exhibition at the Paula Cooper Gallery.

Since his first major exhibition in 2001, Gonzales has been known for his politically charged paintings based on photographs or documents culled from the archives of American history and popular culture. His work has dealt with subject matter ranging from the JFK assassination to representations of the White House or the Pentagon, often rendered in a pointillist-like technique in which the images seem to dissolve when viewed up close.

In this exhibition, Gonzales considers the politics of real estate, presenting new paintings of exclusive locations such as tropical resorts, expensive restaurants and luxury condominiums. The canvases, based on found images from the Internet, suggest opulent lifestyles and leisure, but the spaces they depict are devoid of any human presence, appearing as eerie props, or empty shells for the spectacle of affluence. The palette of greens veers sharply from the soothing quality traditionally attached to this color in popular psychology. Rather, the works read like landscapes bathed in a toxic light.

Collectively, the paintings function like a critical lens on contemporary representations of wealth, status, and desire.

Wayne Gonzales started exhibiting in the mid-1990s and had his first one-person show in New York in 1997. His work from that period included face or cityscape paintings distorted to varying degrees of abstraction, often with the help of a computer. His work is in public and private collections in the United States and Europe, most notably the Dallas Museum of Art and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Gonzales lives and works in New York.

For more information, please contact the gallery: (212) 255-1105 or info@paulacoopergallery.com