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Mashber

Petzel is pleased to present Mashber, a selection of new paintings by New York-based artist Ross Bleckner. The show marks Bleckner’s third solo exhibition with the gallery, and will be on view from January 18 to March 9, 2024, at Petzel’s Chelsea location at 520 West 25th Street. Using floral motifs, modes of erasure, and abstract landscapes derived from brain scans, Bleckner stages a range of emotional allegories through stylistic, iconographic, and painterly conditions central to the artist’s practice.

Ross Bleckner - Mashber - Collect - Petzel Gallery

“on a tuesday 
its incredible to me 
that you can breathe your last breath
on the same day 
that someone else 
somewhere
will curse the misery of a parking ticket 
or laugh               
until they cry”

—Unknown Poet

Ross Bleckner - Mashber - Collect - Petzel Gallery

Citing the Hebrew word “mashber” (מְשְׁבֵּר) in the title of the exhibition, often translated into English as “crisis,” these works represent an inquiry into the present, considering painting as a method of elliptical, temporal image-making to cycle and transmute emotional processes. Originally meaning “birthing chair,” a space of breach and beginning, “mashber” signals both danger and desire, the seat between life and death. This space of transformation invokes the German concept of “Weltschmerz” (“world grief”)—melancholy caused by the disparity between the way the world is and the way one wishes it to be.  

Ross Bleckner

Gratitude to Old Teachers

2023

Oil on linen

96 x 72 inches

243.8 x 182.9 cm

(BR 23/055)

Ross Bleckner

Gratitude to Old Teachers

2023

Oil on linen

96 x 72 inches

243.8 x 182.9 cm

(BR 23/055)

Inquire
Ross Bleckner

Advice for Starting Over

2022

Oil on linen

72 x 96 inches

182.9 x 243.8 cm

(BR 23/037)

Ross Bleckner

Advice for Starting Over

2022

Oil on linen

72 x 96 inches

182.9 x 243.8 cm

(BR 23/037)

Inquire
Ross Bleckner

Octopus

2023

Oil on linen

72 x 72 inches

182.9 x 182.9 cm

(BR 23/031)

Ross Bleckner

Octopus

2023

Oil on linen

72 x 72 inches

182.9 x 182.9 cm

(BR 23/031)

Inquire
Ross Bleckner

I Hope Speak to You Again

2023

Oil on linen

72 x 96 inches

182.9 x 243.8 cm

(BR 23/049)

Ross Bleckner

I Hope Speak to You Again

2023

Oil on linen

72 x 96 inches

182.9 x 243.8 cm

(BR 23/049)

Inquire
Ross Bleckner

Everytime I Read

2023

Oil on linen

84 x 60 inches

213.4 x 152.4 cm

(BR 24/002)

Ross Bleckner

Everytime I Read

2023

Oil on linen

84 x 60 inches

213.4 x 152.4 cm

(BR 24/002)

Inquire
Ross Bleckner

Afraid to Think About Death

2023

Oil on canvas

72 x 96 inches

182.9 x 243.8 cm

(BR 23/036)

Ross Bleckner

Afraid to Think About Death

2023

Oil on canvas

72 x 96 inches

182.9 x 243.8 cm

(BR 23/036)

Inquire
Ross Bleckner

Skinny Love

2023

Oil on linen

72 x 96 inches

182.9 x 243.8 cm

(BR 23/050)

Ross Bleckner

Skinny Love

2023

Oil on linen

72 x 96 inches

182.9 x 243.8 cm

(BR 23/050)

Inquire
Ross Bleckner

Pretty/Pretty

2023

Oil on linen

60 x 72 inches

152.4 x 182.9 cm

(BR 23/033)

Ross Bleckner

Pretty/Pretty

2023

Oil on linen

60 x 72 inches

152.4 x 182.9 cm

(BR 23/033)

Inquire
Ross Bleckner

This City Has 10 Million

2022

Oil on canvas

96 x 84 inches

243.8 x 213.4 cm

(BR 23/042)

Ross Bleckner

This City Has 10 Million

2022

Oil on canvas

96 x 84 inches

243.8 x 213.4 cm

(BR 23/042)

Inquire
Ross Bleckner

Around My Corner

2022

Oil on canvas

72 x 72 inches

182.9 x 182.9 cm

(BR 23/041)

Ross Bleckner

Around My Corner

2022

Oil on canvas

72 x 72 inches

182.9 x 182.9 cm

(BR 23/041)

Inquire
Ross Bleckner

Advice for Starting Over

2022

Oil on linen

72 x 96 inches

182.9 x 243.8 cm

(BR 23/037)

Ross Bleckner

Advice for Starting Over

2022

Oil on linen

72 x 96 inches

182.9 x 243.8 cm

(BR 23/037)

Ross Bleckner

Octopus

2023

Oil on linen

72 x 72 inches

182.9 x 182.9 cm

(BR 23/031)

Ross Bleckner

Octopus

2023

Oil on linen

72 x 72 inches

182.9 x 182.9 cm

(BR 23/031)

Ross Bleckner

I Hope Speak to You Again

2023

Oil on linen

72 x 96 inches

182.9 x 243.8 cm

(BR 23/049)

Ross Bleckner

I Hope Speak to You Again

2023

Oil on linen

72 x 96 inches

182.9 x 243.8 cm

(BR 23/049)

Ross Bleckner

Everytime I Read

2023

Oil on linen

84 x 60 inches

213.4 x 152.4 cm

(BR 24/002)

Ross Bleckner

Everytime I Read

2023

Oil on linen

84 x 60 inches

213.4 x 152.4 cm

(BR 24/002)

Ross Bleckner

Afraid to Think About Death

2023

Oil on canvas

72 x 96 inches

182.9 x 243.8 cm

(BR 23/036)

Ross Bleckner

Afraid to Think About Death

2023

Oil on canvas

72 x 96 inches

182.9 x 243.8 cm

(BR 23/036)

Ross Bleckner

Skinny Love

2023

Oil on linen

72 x 96 inches

182.9 x 243.8 cm

(BR 23/050)

Ross Bleckner

Skinny Love

2023

Oil on linen

72 x 96 inches

182.9 x 243.8 cm

(BR 23/050)

Ross Bleckner

Pretty/Pretty

2023

Oil on linen

60 x 72 inches

152.4 x 182.9 cm

(BR 23/033)

Ross Bleckner

Pretty/Pretty

2023

Oil on linen

60 x 72 inches

152.4 x 182.9 cm

(BR 23/033)

Ross Bleckner

This City Has 10 Million

2022

Oil on canvas

96 x 84 inches

243.8 x 213.4 cm

(BR 23/042)

Ross Bleckner

This City Has 10 Million

2022

Oil on canvas

96 x 84 inches

243.8 x 213.4 cm

(BR 23/042)

Ross Bleckner

Around My Corner

2022

Oil on canvas

72 x 72 inches

182.9 x 182.9 cm

(BR 23/041)

Ross Bleckner

Around My Corner

2022

Oil on canvas

72 x 72 inches

182.9 x 182.9 cm

(BR 23/041)

Ross Bleckner

To Speak Lower

2023

Oil on canvas

84 x 120 inches

213.4 x 304.8 cm

(BR 23/039)

Ross Bleckner

To Speak Lower

2023

Oil on canvas

84 x 120 inches

213.4 x 304.8 cm

(BR 23/039)

Inquire

Bleckner’s newest paintings locate manifold states of experimentation, distress, and quietude, and extend painting as an act of bearing witness. “Bleckner’s paintings are honest, to a fault about their condition, which is the condition of painting without trust,” writes the late Peter Schjeldahl. “This can be extremely moving, the surfaces seemed punished into songfulness. The best of them could make you weep, without knowing quite why.”

Ross Bleckner - Mashber - Collect - Petzel Gallery

Bleckner’s titles are sometimes humorous (Pretty/Pretty), sometimes indulgent (Deep Below Our Violence), sometimes self-directing (To Speak Lower), sometimes admitting grief (Afraid to Think About Death), and at times resigned to cosmic irony (You Will Not ‘Get Over It’), yet always honest, working through their surfaces. Mashber presents a treatment of human feeling with curiosity, conviction, and reverence, revealing the truth of vulnerability in moments of crisis.

Ross Bleckner

One Common Box

2023

Oil on canvas

84 x 84 inches

213.4 x 213.4 cm

(BR 23/035)

Ross Bleckner

One Common Box

2023

Oil on canvas

84 x 84 inches

213.4 x 213.4 cm

(BR 23/035)

Inquire
Ross Bleckner

You Will Not ‘Get Over It’

2023

Oil on linen

84 x 60 inches

213.4 x 152.4 cm

(BR 23/038)

Ross Bleckner

You Will Not ‘Get Over It’

2023

Oil on linen

84 x 60 inches

213.4 x 152.4 cm

(BR 23/038)

Inquire
Ross Bleckner

Swimming in a Glass

2022

Oil on linen

83 x 72 inches

210.8 x 182.9 cm

(BR 23/053)

Ross Bleckner

Swimming in a Glass

2022

Oil on linen

83 x 72 inches

210.8 x 182.9 cm

(BR 23/053)

Inquire
Ross Bleckner

Aggregates, Limbs

2023

Oil on canvas

96 x 84 inches

243.8 x 213.4 cm

(BR 23/054)

Ross Bleckner

Aggregates, Limbs

2023

Oil on canvas

96 x 84 inches

243.8 x 213.4 cm

(BR 23/054)

Inquire
Ross Bleckner

You Will Not ‘Get Over It’

2023

Oil on linen

84 x 60 inches

213.4 x 152.4 cm

(BR 23/038)

Ross Bleckner

You Will Not ‘Get Over It’

2023

Oil on linen

84 x 60 inches

213.4 x 152.4 cm

(BR 23/038)

Ross Bleckner

Swimming in a Glass

2022

Oil on linen

83 x 72 inches

210.8 x 182.9 cm

(BR 23/053)

Ross Bleckner

Swimming in a Glass

2022

Oil on linen

83 x 72 inches

210.8 x 182.9 cm

(BR 23/053)

Ross Bleckner

Aggregates, Limbs

2023

Oil on canvas

96 x 84 inches

243.8 x 213.4 cm

(BR 23/054)

Ross Bleckner

Aggregates, Limbs

2023

Oil on canvas

96 x 84 inches

243.8 x 213.4 cm

(BR 23/054)

Ross Bleckner

Training for Happiness

2023

Oil on linen

72 x 96 inches

182.9 x 243.8 cm

(BR 23/048)

Ross Bleckner

Training for Happiness

2023

Oil on linen

72 x 96 inches

182.9 x 243.8 cm

(BR 23/048)

Inquire
Ross Bleckner - Mashber - Collect - Petzel Gallery

About Ross Bleckner

Emerging as a prominent artist in New York during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, Bleckner’s paintings are an investigation of change, loss, and memory, often suggesting meditations on the body, health and disease, much like a memento mori. “The idea that the body is so perfect, until it’s not perfect. It’s a fragile membrane that separates us from disaster.” His immersive paintings, whether pure abstraction of stripes or dots, or more representational renderings of birds, flowers, and brains, elicit a powerful hypnotic and dizzying effect.

To this day, Bleckner is the youngest artist to receive a midcareer retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, at the age of 45. His paintings can be found in many major museums, such as the Museum of Modern Art and in the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, as well as numerous exhibitions, including at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin; Reina Sofia, Madrid; L.A. County Museum, Los Angeles; Kunstmuseum Luzern, Luzern; and Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern.

Ross Bleckner - Mashber - Collect - Petzel Gallery