Thomas Woodruff's third solo show with Vito Schnabel Gallery is entitled Dinosaur differenceswill be on view from February 9 through March 30 at 455 West 19th Street in New York.
The exhibition will focus on Woodruff's recent paintings depicting prehistoric creatures in the moments before their demise. It is a continuation of a series Woodruff began in 2020, during the pandemic lockdown, and which debuted his one-man show, ResurrectionAt the Vito Schnabel Gallery in 2022.
Within the confines of his studio in the Hudson Valley, Woodruff began compulsively drawing dinosaurs, seeing them as expressions of pity and sadness appropriate for such a difficult time. Despite Woodruff's careful presentation of dinosaur themes, the resulting paintings run counter to expectations of “ancient art” and other forms of natural history illustration, depicting dinosaurs as dramatic figures of apocalyptic production rather than fossil specimens.
throughout Dinosaur differencesWoodruff plays with historical art references, reinterpreting motifs and themes associated with the art of the past to examine current events. For example, Blessings 3 (2022) features three theropods linking arms in a field of white magnolias, alluding to the titular pantheon of deities in Botticelli's painting. Primavera -But this time, they see a fireball threatening the sky. In the trilogy Adult swimmers (2023), Woodruff adapts a classic theme taken up by artists from Titian to Cézanne, depicting three long-necked “Nessie” monsters submerged in water while flame-filled orbs rain down around them. Finally, inspired by the history of performance, a pterodactyl dominates at the centre Maya Lacrimosa (2023), as she hides her children under her wings while the storm rages around them, a cross between the two Nutcracker Mother Ginger and Maria Callas Medea.
