Alex Katz: Night Paintings

This survey offers a look back into some thirty years of Katz’s work, tracing the elements of what could be called ‘black’ or ‘night’ paintings, and focusing on paintings of recent date that at the very least have nighttime as their subject.In what ways are these paintings truly about night or blackness? How do they relate to other works, even portraits, which seem to project the quality of nighttime in their evocation of silence or a sense of distance, but which overtly picture neither blackness nor night? These and other critical questions about the nature of Katz’s work are addressed in Donald Kuspit’s insightful text. They are further illuminated in a frank and revealing interview with the artist by the author.Includes sixty-three illustrations, all in full color.