Rosalyn Drexler Exhibition Opens At Garth Greenan, Inspires Rachel Comey Show

(MENAFN- USA Art News) A solo exhibition of works by the late artist Rosalyn Drexler, titled“My Life Has a Life of Its Own,” is inaugurating one of Garth Greenan Gallery's new downtown Manhattan locations. Concurrently, fashion designer Rachel Comey presented her Spring 2027 runway show, drawing inspiration from Drexler's art and life.

The exhibition, on view through October 24 on Greene Street, features nearly 50 paintings and drawings created between 1960 and 1969. Many of these works were previously shown in Drexler's 1964 second solo exhibition at Kornblee Gallery. The show's title is derived from an entry in Drexler's notebooks. Exhibition curator Fiona Laugharn noted,“In the journal, she talks about this quote, and she's like, maybe one day I'll figure out what it means.” The exhibition is structured into three sections,“The Image,”“Image & Text,” and“Return to Image,” which correspond to vitrines displaying materials from Drexler's archive. Laugharn stated,“I wanted them to echo that experience of going through the archive, to have it be very dense. They almost as if they're collages too.”

Drexler, a first-generation Pop artist, sourced figures from print media and movie posters, reinterpreting them with her distinctive color palette. Gallery owner Garth Greenan, who began exhibiting Drexler's work in 2015, explained her process:“So much of the way she paints is by editing the image together, and that's part of that's how she composes. It's like an aggressive editing process.” Recurring motifs include a shot-up mafioso in Portrait of a Mobster ( 1961 ) and a canoodling couple from Pretty Boy Floyd ( 1960 ). Greenan added,“She lifted these people because there was the most potential here. She was interested in how really intense emotions, anger, fear, love, violence, translate to a work of art, where she could imbue the figure with those.” Drexler often worked on a smaller scale, partly due to her studio size and preference for multipack canvas boards, which also allowed her to avoid print shops for image scaling. Greenan commented,“It was amusing for Rosalyn to be able to make these paintings. She really enjoyed being able to do them like that. Rosalyn had smallish posters and a morgue file of newspaper clippings that she could go through. She would look at a headline and then she'd have an image associated with it in her mind. She'd find the match when it worked, stick it on the canvas, bury it in paint, and there was the painting.”

Separately, on Wednesday afternoon, approximately seven blocks north of the gallery, Rachel Comey's Spring 2027 runway show featured a 39-look collection directly inspired by Drexler. The show's invitation included an excerpt from Drexler's 1972 play Softly and Consider the Nearness. Comey was introduced to Drexler's work by Garth Greenan director Lloyd Wise, who sought to broaden audiences for Drexler's art. Comey was particularly drawn to Drexler's multifaceted life, which spanned painting, playwriting, novel writing, nightclub singing, and professional wrestling, as detailed in Drexler's New York Times obituary.“She presented herself in that time with such strength and provocation, which I thought was really quite interesting,” Comey said backstage.“She was so brave and so bold, I just love that type of woman.” The gallery provided Comey and her team with a private viewing of paintings and archival access. Comey's collection incorporates subtle tributes to Drexler, including her vibrant color palette and high-contrast juxtapositions. Elements like a silver belt resembling a wrestling championship belt, feather earrings inspired by Our Lady of Doves ( 1988 ), and dresses featuring boxers from Going Down and On the Nose (both 1991 ) appear in the collection. One dress showcases an enlarged invitation to Drexler's first New York solo show at Reuben Gallery in 1960, where she exhibited sculptures.

The collection also includes“fan tees,” with one blue version featuring a photo of Drexler as a wrestler alongside text from her 1964 play Home Movies. Models carried copies of Drexler's novels, such as To Smithereens, I Am the Beautiful Stranger ( 1965 ), and The Cosmopolitan Girl ( 1974 ). Comey remarked,“I think all my customers are their reading types.”

We previously reported:

Filmmaker Sofia Coppola shared her selection of four favorite Lisa Yuskavage paintings from the artist's recent David Zwirner exhibition.

Source: ARTnews

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