Steuart Pittman: Les Cheneaux

Traywick Contemporary is pleased to announce Les Cheneaux, an exhibition featuring new paintings by Steuart Pittman. This marks Pittman’s fourth solo show with the gallery, showcasing his signature blend of modernist abstraction with a deeply personal and contemporary approach. Pittman’s dynamic, diaristic paintings draw from a visual language of bold geometric forms, infused with moments of personal reflection and lived experience. Inspired by events both inside and outside the studio, his works convey an intimate, almost narrative quality. His distinctive asymmetric shapes and meticulously crafted frames challenge traditional notions of formalism, offering an offbeat perspective on abstraction. The exhibition’s title refers to a chain of islands in Northern Michigan, a region of deep personal significance to Pittman and his family’s history. While rooted in a specific place, the artist’s compositions remain both ambiguous and referential—what he describes as “distilled glances blurred and softened by age and nostalgia.” Architectural structures and manmade forms from his memories reappear in his work as irregular, quirky shapes, distorted over time yet anchoring his exploration of place and remembrance. As with much of Pittman’s practice, these paintings serve as a meditation on memory, time, and the evolving nature of personal and collective histories. Though informed by his own experiences, the works also speak to universal themes of belonging and the passage of time. The palette and compositions reflect the natural beauty of the region, while also acknowledging the deeper, more complex histories embedded in the land. As Pittman states, “Time has the capacity to inflect the sweetness of memory into something more challenging and meaningful. While these paintings gesture toward my own origins, they also recognize the Anishinaabek peoples, who have traditionally occupied the land known today as the Les Cheneaux Islands, and their enduring stewardship of its land and waters.” Born and raised in the Midwest, Steuart Pittman currently lives and works in Oakland, CA. He earned his MFA from Mills College, where he was awarded the prestigious Jay DeFeo MFA Prize. His work has received numerous accolades, including the Peter S. Reed Foundation Award in Painting and multiple nominations for the SFMoMA SECA Award. Pittman has worked as an assistant to renowned artists Ron Nagle, John Fraser, and Hung Liu. Represented by Traywick Contemporary since 2016, Les Cheneaux marks his latest exploration into the intersections of memory, place, and abstraction.

Event Links

Website: https://go.evvnt.com/2937546-0

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