Ross Bleckner's Berlin Exhibition Explores Impermanence Through New Paintings

Ross Bleckner's exhibition 'Quid Pro Quo' at Capitain Petzel in Berlin ran from 10 September to 7 November 2020, featuring new canvases that address themes of change and fragility. The show includes works like 'Burn Painting (Rooms Combined to Cheer)' (2020), where flower stems appear ghostly and the canvas is scorched with a blowtorch, updating the floral memento mori tradition. Another piece, 'After/All/These/Years' (2020), is a four-panel geometric abstraction with concentric grey diamonds invaded by a red one, suggesting transformation over time. 'Divided by Zero' (2020) presents colorful, smeared horizontal stripes over a greyish void with a glowing white center, evoking a sense of movement and hope. Bleckner, known in the 1980s and 90s for paintings responding to the AIDS epidemic, now conflates human vulnerability with aesthetics, emphasizing stylistic shifts. The exhibition's melancholy tone is balanced by acceptance, as seen in 'Love and Letting Go II' (2020), which merges Dutch flower painting with midcentury American abstraction through dispersing flower-heads on a brownish canvas. Bleckner's work references spiritual guru Ram Dass, indicating a Buddhist-inspired approach to impermanence, developed in his East Hampton studio. The paintings use sadness as energy, with color emerging consolatorily from darkness upon prolonged viewing.