Tif Sigfrids is very happy to announce a solo exhibition of new paintings by Gracie DeVito, entitled Evening Luddite, at a location in New York City (75 E. Broadway). The show is comprised of a selection of paintings from a larger body of work made over the past year. A second compilation will be shown at the New York Studio School in September. The show will open over the course of two days, May 7th and 8th, with hours from 11 – 6. Evening Luddite will remain on view through June 27th.

At the origin is Undeniable March 2020, a painting DeVito began at the onset of the pandemic. The map like image organizes forms of warm greens and reds within a cool blue. Sparks of energy in varying line pressure propel the composition and build atmosphere. Planes of color hover so that the horizon line melds into the atmosphere, pivoting the work away from traditional landscape and into a more psychological realm. The decision to reimagine her formal approach came at a very specific moment, in the summer of 2020. DeVito experienced a pervasive sense of solitude while contemplating a society less reliant on information from the outside world and more invested in interactions with technology.

A small transcription of Poussin’s Bacchanalian Revel Before a Term is a representation of blissful debauchery and resignation to the Gods. A painter’s warning of an empire lost in the revelry of its own power, it signifies a collapse of a former understanding for the way things work. Identities morph, leaders fail to express a common good, and society is ripe for theatrics.

Where DeVito’s Bacchanal represents society on the precipice of change, her other abstractions present themselves as allegories within an already shifting landscape. Nude with Computer Chip and the rich blue sky of Evening Luddite are inspired by the implications of contemporary society evolving into a digital economy. Cut up imagery relating to the artists experience becomes embedded as metaphor within the abstractions. What was more important than describing things with these paintings, was to work with what was there: materials, light, space, and solitude. DeVito’s work continues to realign intuitively with her experience, allowing for new codes of imagery and action to formalize.

DeVito (b. 1985) lives and works in Los Angeles. Her work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Overduin and Co. and Nicelle Beauchene and has been reviewed in Artforum and The New York Times. She received her MFA from CalArts in 2012 and has been participating in classes at The New York Studio School since 2003, The second part of this exhibition will open there September 7th.