Karma is pleased to present “Ballin’ the Jack,” a solo exhibition by Louise Fishman. The exhibition consists of two new bodies of work: oil paintings created in Fishman’s studio in New York City and watercolors made at her home upstate.
Beginning her practice at the height of Abstract Expressionism, Fishman asserted herself as a queer feminist Jewish woman within the artistic milieu of the time. Her atmospheric spaces and muscular articulations recount the urgency of her self-expression, and speak to the dynamic forward motion of ballin’ the jack, or going full-speed. After relocating to upstate New York this spring, Fishman’s work was energized by the change. Her small-scale watercolors celebrate the countryside with a refreshing poetic sensibility. “Ballin’ the Jack” charts a material record of this shift in the artist’s vision.
Fishman’s paintings fuse gestural abstraction with geometric minimalism, often featuring her hallmark grid motif. Unlike the grids of Mondrian and LeWitt, Fishman’s are sculptural, yet evanescent—at times overt and at others subtle. Rigid rectangles of paint give way to airy hash marks, which fade into the background as Fishman reworks the surface. Fishman has referred to her compositions as a breathing system, underscoring the influence of meditation on her practice. While these abstractions do not chronicle Fishman’s life, their production is informed by her private, political, and cultural encounters. The works are infused with the literature, music, emotions, and philosophies that move her.
Fishman’s recent small-scale watercolor paintings allowed her to develop an intimate new vernacular. Greens and browns, fluid and stippled marks—all evoke the characteristics of soil, rocks, trees, and flowers. Aerated, ethereal blue washes allude to country brooks and streams. Recalling Turner’s landscapes, Fishman’s atmospheric brushwork is effervescent and vivacious. Unrelentingly emotive, the collected paintings of “Ballin’ the Jack” evoke Fishman’s energetic, compassionate vision.