Alexandre Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of Will Barnet’s recent abstract paintings. Included in the show will be fourteen works on canvas that range in date from 2003 to 2010.

In 1960 Will Barnet exhibited a group of abstract paintings at the Bertha Schaefer Gallery in New York. This critically acclaimed exhibition marked the end of a stylistic period in Barnet’s career. It was followed by the development of a distinctive figurative style that sustained his energies through 2000, the year of his retrospective exhibition organized by Gail Stavitsky at The Montclair Art Museum. Following the Montclair retrospective, and approaching his ninetieth birthday, Barnet again became engaged with abstraction, both in response to the figure and to the landscape.

On the current work Stavitsky writes: “The new works in this exhibition were begun in 2003. Barnet re-developed ideas that he never completed during his shift from abstraction to figurative work in the 1960s. Barnet’s unusual combination of subtly painted, imaginary figurative imagery are enhanced by his new vision of color and special feeling, which exemplifies his ongoing capacity for reinvention and new perspectives as he nears 100.”

Michael Kimmelman has written on Barnet’s abstract work: “They could resemble mosaics or jigsaw puzzles. The flatness and palette harked back to Davis with an added Byzantine formality. Iconic structure implied spirituality, order, one of Mr. Barnet’s distinguishing traits.”

Will Barnet was born in Beverly, Massachusetts in 1911. He has taught and exhibited widely over his more than seventy-five year career. His works are in the collection of virtually every American museum, including locally The Guggenheim Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, and The Whitney Museum of American. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In fall 2011 the National Academy Museum will present a retrospective exhibition being organized by Bruce Weber. Barnet is represented exclusively by Alexandre Gallery.