Joan Semmel's Continuities exhibition presents unapologetic aging body paintings across Brussels and New York

Galleries Xavier Hufkens and Alexander Gray Associates jointly present Continuities, featuring recent paintings by 93-year-old feminist artist Joan Semmel. The exhibition runs simultaneously in Brussels and New York, creating a transcontinental presentation that mirrors the paintings' exploration of doubling and immediacy. Semmel continues her decades-long practice of painting her own body from an internalized perspective rather than observational. Her works deliberately center the aging female form, a subject typically excluded from visual culture. Paintings like Here I Am (2025) and Red Breast (2025) employ saturated hues and bold brushstrokes that move across flesh with blurred contours. Semmel rejects symbolic or idealized representations, instead presenting the body without apology or disguise. The exhibition structure extends the act of seeing across continents while maintaining the paintings' core logic. Semmel's practice carries particular weight in her nineties as she continues to challenge cultural erasure of aging women.