Jeronimo Elespe’s paintings in this exhibition, all oil on aluminum panel, continue his investigation into the relationship between the physical qualities of painting and the nature of images and memory. Elespe works in a small-scale format (ranging in size from 4×4 ” to 12×10 “), creating from memory paintings of friends and family members; domestic details and interiors; architectural and urban landscapes. Elespe will sometimes work on an individual painting over the course of months or even years allowing each painting time to veer intuitively in a direction that is either more representational or more abstract. The result is a dreamlike fissure of haunting and ambiguous images built on many (physical and metaphysical) layers and surfaces. While solidly autobiographical and contemporary, Elespe’s paintings retain a historical connection to the work of Spanish artists such as Goya and Velazquez and reflect an obsession with detail and surface found in Medieval and early Renaissance paintings.

Jeronimo Elespe was born in Madrid, Spain in 1975 where he currently lives and works. He received an MFA in Painting from Yale University in 2001. This will be his fourth solo exhibition in New York.