Robert Mangold's 2017 Pace Gallery Exhibition Showcases Shaped Canvases and Formal Tensions

From May 6 to June 17, 2017, Robert Mangold presented an exhibition of paintings and works on paper at Pace Gallery's New York City location at 510 West 25th Street. The show featured works created between 2013 and 2017, highlighting Mangold's reductive approach that tests the authority of line on planar surfaces. Shaped canvases served as framing devices, with formats including cutouts that were often symmetrical but occasionally asymmetrical. Key pieces such as Yellow Extended Ring Frame (2014) demonstrated how eccentric formats challenge composition through dynamic color and line. Other notable works included Yellow Double Square Loop (2015) and Two Open Squares within a Yellow Area (2016), which adhered to abstraction as a fundamental form. Double Red Square Frame B (2015) stood out for its calligraphic line interacting with streaked rose pigment, achieving a harmonious result despite its diptych format. The exhibition emphasized formal dualities like positive and negative shapes, with drawn squares contrasting against meandering lines. Mangold's work maintained a gyroscopic equilibrium among elements, where preliminary drawing marks remained visible up close. The display sharpened viewers' critical eyes through tests of constraints, showcasing the artist's risk in balancing drawing with shaped frames.