Robert Aitchison State of Emergency: Portraits from the Pandemic

November 6 – December 12, 2021
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 6, 4-6pm
Artist’s Talk: Sunday, December 5, 4pm
Gallery Hours: Thursday – Sunday, 12 – 5pm

Kentler International Drawing Space presents State of Emergency: Portraits
from the Pandemic, a solo exhibition of new drawings by Brooklyn-based artist Robert Aitchison.

This body of work explores complex notions of presence, engagement and isolation in the era of Covid. Beginning in March 2020, Aitchison utilized video chat platforms to sketch hundreds of his close friends. The resulting portrait series is at once vibrant and introspective. His subjects are jarringly foregrounded and many present with duplicate or askew facial features. These distortions mirror the glitchy, interrupted and delayed experience of making intimate contact in an online setting.

Aitchison’s drawings, rendered primarily in gouache and oil stick on paper, are colorful and varied in size. In their style, subject matter and hanging arrangement they are visually dynamic as well as emotionally rife. Each arresting gaze compels the viewer to connect with Aitchison’s subjects and consider the ways in which their own human interactions have evolved throughout the pandemic.

A brochure with an essay by Michael Friedrich accompanies the exhibition.

Kentler International Drawing Space is located at 353 Van Brunt Street (between Dikeman & Wolcott Streets) in Red Hook, Brooklyn. For more information, contact Executive Director Florence Neal, 718.875.2098 or visit www.kentlergallery.org.