Judith Simonian
THE HUMAN ELEMENT, HUDDLED AND STILL
May 22 through June 21, 2025
Opening Reception
Wednesday, May 21, from 6–8 pm
Gallery hours:
Thursday–Saturday, 12–6 PM.
Location
53 Stanton Street
New York, NY 10002
608.556.4763
Press Release
JJ MURPHY GALLERY is pleased to present “The Human Element, Huddled and Still,” a solo exhibition of recent paintings by Judith Simonian, opening Wednesday, May 21, 2025, from 6 to 8 PM. The show, the gallery’s twelfth, runs from May 22 through June 21. Gallery hours: Thursday–Saturday, 12–6 PM.
Like many artists, Simonian explores the line between representation and abstraction. Although there is usually a clear sense of what is being depicted in her paintings, it only serves as a starting point for the ways she playfully abstracts and transforms her subjects through various strategies. Simonian works in a highly improvisational manner. Despite the representational elements, her process is closer to that of an abstract painter in terms of reworking the paintings over long periods of time. For Simonian, painting seems to involve a series of decisions and revisions. As a result, her work conveys a sense of compressed energy.
Many of Simonian's works in the exhibition are still lifes, such as “Marysia’s Salon” (2024), which was inspired by a visit to a Polish beauty parlor in her East Village neighborhood. “Bottle Symphony in Red” (2023) recalls Giorgio Morandi. Whereas Morandi’s still lifes are a delicate arrangement of vases, jugs, bowls, urns, and bottles, painted in muted colors—whites, browns, and tans—set against a neutral background, Simonian bombards our senses through her use of high-intensity reds, pinks, blue-greens, grays, blacks, and yellow ochre.
In “Inside Outside” (2023), the artist similarly portrays a room as an expressionistic whirlwind of vivid colors. Simonian’s paintings deal with intervals, or the spaces between points. Simonian’s still lifes often open up an interior space to an exterior one. In “Marysia’s Salon,” a photograph tacked on the wall suggests the world outside. “Bobby Pins of Manhattan” (2023-24) provides a glimpse of the city skyline through the window, including the landmark Empire State Building. “Cat in the Lamp” (2024) depicts a black cat inside an illuminated yellow lampshade in front of a large window that overlooks water.
Simonian employs careful framing to create meaning. It is possible to view several of her landscape paintings as political allegories. In "Greener Pastures" (2025), the shimmering image of the Statue of Liberty appears to be a mirage, while green brushstrokes seem to hint at water on deck or maybe even a school of fish. "Resting on Her Side" (2024) depicts rocky terrain and the bleak spectacle of a capsized ship.
Judith Simonian has had solo exhibitions of her work at 1GAP, Brooklyn; Edward Thorp Gallery, New York City; and John Davis Gallery in Hudson, NY. Her work has been shown in numerous museums, including The New Museum, NYC; MoMA/PS1, NYC; Islip Museum, NY; Montclair Art Museum, NJ; Weatherspoon Art Museum, NC; San Francisco Museum of Art, CA; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA; Newport Harbor Art Museum, CA; and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, WI. Simonian has been awarded many prestigious honors, including a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, an Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Individual Support Grant, and a National Endowment for the Arts Grant. She received her BA and MA degrees from California State University, Northridge. The artist lives and works in New York City.