Artist Karin Davie continues to captivate audiences with her distinctive approach to abstract painting in her latest exhibition "It Comes In Waves" at Miles McEnery Gallery in Manhattan's Chelsea district. The show features eight tonally monochromatic paintings, six of which are displayed on shaped canvases, all created in 2025. Each piece demonstrates Davie's signature horizontal brushstrokes that span the full width of the canvas, creating sensuously wavy ribbon-like patterns that have defined her work since the early 1990s.
Davie has established herself as a masterful brushstroke painter over more than three decades, working in series that feature distinct linear forms through repetition. Her artistic evolution has encompassed lines, loops, and slow, undulating waves that create paintings filled with visual paradoxes. Her work represents a unique synthesis of two traditionally divergent styles: the painterly marks characteristic of Abstract Expressionism and the optical effects of Op Art, two genres that have occupied singular and distinct places in abstract art history.
The exhibition's standout pieces include works from the "Trespasser" series, with "Trespasser no. 1" painted on a dark rose ground using a pinkish-rose palette mixed with white. A distinctive rounded, thumb-like shape missing from the top edge alters the direction of the first brushstroke, with Davie conforming the wave pattern to this missing space. This creates a cascading effect where each subsequent brushstroke attempts to copy its predecessor, resulting in a deep, rounded groove that gently winds down the painting's surface.
Davie's technical mastery is evident in her ability to modulate color as each brushstroke traverses the canvas. Every line partially covers the one before it, creating a visual field that appears to tilt back in space with an uneven perceived surface. The bands jump from one tonal density to another while adhering as closely as possible to the contour of the previous stroke. This technique creates a sense of tension as complete control escapes the artist despite her careful composition planning.
The combination of modulating color and undulating brushstrokes transforms the painting's bands into terrain-like surfaces that invite viewers to make associations and seek metaphors. Up close, individual paintbrush hairs become visible, adding to the luxurious surface quality of each band. This effect is enhanced by Davie's technique of mixing white with color without blending them, creating natural highlights that suggest braids of hair, carefully groomed fur, or clusters of thread.
From a distance, viewers can appreciate both the distinct identity of each brushstroke and the overall topography created by the cumulative effect. Davie has never wavered from her incremental process throughout her career, yet her work consistently feels fresh and innovative. Her brushstrokes describe nothing but themselves, and this self-referential quality has allowed her art to age well over the decades.
While Davie's work can be associated with multiple art movements - Minimalism through her use of monochrome, Abstract Expressionism through her gestural marks, and Op Art through visual vibrancy - she continues to maintain a distinctive position that stands apart from these categories. Her ability to control sometimes two or more colors within a single brushstroke remains one of her most intriguing technical achievements, laying everything bare in her brushwork while maintaining mystery in her methods.
"Karin Davie: It Comes in Waves" continues at Miles McEnery Gallery, located at 525 West 22nd Street in Chelsea, Manhattan, through December 20. The exhibition has been organized by the gallery and represents a comprehensive look at Davie's current artistic direction, showcasing her continued innovation within her established visual vocabulary of undulating horizontal brushstrokes and monochromatic color schemes.
