Other Life: Eric Wert

Gallery Henoch is pleased to present Other Life, a solo exhibition by artist Eric Wert. With 15 oil

paintings and 2 graphite drawings, it will be his largest exhibit to date and his first solo show in New York. The exhibition will run from September 24th – October 17th.

In the 2018 monograph, Eric Wert: Still Life, published by Pomegranate Books, Richard Speer writes:

It is a misnomer to call Eric Wert’s still lifes “still,” for they fairly buzz with compositional

dynamism: jubilant messes of blooms and stems arranged willy-nilly, opulent vases

toppled on reflective tiles, rivulets of spilled water shining glassy-smooth, droplets

akimbo reflecting luxurious fabrics. Each work is a feast of horticultural bounty

recontextualized by the human gaze. More concretely, they are products of

extraordinary skill, a time-intensive process, and an uncommon sense of visual drama

which have won the respect of fans and collectors around the world. Each of Wert’s

compositions begins with a prototype still life, which he stages in his Portland, Oregon

studio, and photographs in many variations of angle, lighting and positioning. He

fashions these myriad images into a working amalgam, tweaking its elements in a

selective editorial improvisation, and exaggerating perspective, reflections, chroma,

contrast and other variables to maximize visual impact. The result of this meticulous

fine-tuning is a complex set of components coalescing into a tableau that appears

effortlessly “realistic.”

Eric Wert received his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and his MFA from

Northwestern University. With a career spanning over 20 years, Wert’s work has been featured

in 13 solo exhibitions as well as in over 100 group shows and art fairs throughout the U.S. and

abroad.