Olivia van Kuiken's 'Bastard Rhyme' at Matthew Brown Gallery explores painting's graphic versus material tensions

Olivia van Kuiken's exhibition 'Bastard Rhyme' at Matthew Brown Gallery in New York, running from 5 September to 18 October 2025, presents oil paintings that juxtapose graphic precision with expressive brushwork. The show, her first with the gallery, features works like 'Multiply' (2025), a large horizontal canvas weaving reclining figures and pixelated elements to evoke Italian futurist rhythms. Another piece, 'Untitled', displays a double portrait with a childlike body in violet-blue and a green figure emerging within, though its execution is noted as hurried. 'Bad Baroque', the largest work, combines tidy crosshatching with thinned green paint pools, creating captivating patterns from afar but appearing anaemic up close. In contrast, the small 'Janus' (2024) effectively balances collaged etching cutouts with textured oil scrapes, generating visceral dynamism. The installation includes eight vertical paintings on circular wood bases, encouraging viewer interaction. Critic Peter Brock, based in Brooklyn, reviews the exhibition, highlighting van Kuiken's graphic sophistication while questioning the resolution of her paint handling. The works engage with art historical references and contemporary debates on imagery versus mark-making in the digital age.