A Painter's 60-Year Obsession Unveiled in a Major New York Show

Imagine dedicating six decades of your life to the exact same questions. Not different questions, mind you, but the same ones, just explored through an ever-evolving lens. That was Brice Marden, a painter who passed away three years ago, but whose relentless pursuit of artistic inquiry is about to be laid bare in New York.

His daughters, Mirabelle and Melia, recently undertook the monumental task of reviewing nearly all of his paintings for a new book, Brice Marden: Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, 1961–2023. This project, which Marden himself started with scholar Tiffany Bell in 2019, was completed by his family after his death in 2023. And now, the fruits of that lifelong obsession are hitting the big stage.

Six Decades, One Vision

This fall, Gagosian’s Chelsea location will host “I Am Plane Image,” a major exhibition opening September 10. It's the first significant survey of Marden's work in New York in two decades, pulling together pieces from heavy-hitters like the Art Institute of Chicago and the Whitney, alongside works from private collections and Marden's own estate. Many of these haven't seen the light of day, or at least not public light, in a very long time.

Larry Gagosian, Marden's dealer and friend since the 1970s, sees the exhibition as a chance to witness an entire career in full flow. He told ARTnews, "He worked all the time. No matter whether he was in Greece or in Marrakesh or in Tivoli or in the city, he was always working. If not painting, drawing." Because apparently, that's what a 60-year dedication looks like.

The catalogue itself is a beast: almost 500 paintings, nearly ninety of which were previously unknown. And in a delightful twist, many entries feature Marden’s own words. "All the captions for all the works are all his words," Melia explained. "It’s really amazing, just to hear his voice talking about each piece." So you get the art, and the artist's inner monologue. What a package.

As the sisters poured over their father’s writings, including his Yale MFA thesis, one thing became strikingly clear: the core artistic questions never changed. Mirabelle noted, "What he was dealing with was the exact same set of issues or problems that he had with painting." From his waxy monochrome paintings of the 1960s to his later calligraphic works, the visual style morphed, but the underlying exploration of surface, space, color, and the very act of painting remained constant. Talk about focus.

The show will even feature The Dance and Lingerie, two large paintings Marden completed in 2022 and 2023, among his very last. Some pieces come straight from his personal collection, having been part of his family's daily life for decades. "We’ve grown up seeing them so much. They’re very personal. No one else has seen them, which I keep forgetting," Mirabelle shared.

The exhibition's title, "I Am Plane Image," comes directly from Marden’s own writings, reflecting his lifelong contemplation of painting and the picture plane. Mirabelle particularly appreciates the present tense of the phrase. "The paintings are now. And they will keep going," she said. A fitting sentiment for an artist whose work continues to unfold, even after he's gone. Gagosian will also be presenting a major Marden painting at Art Basel this month, ensuring his enduring questions reach an even wider global audience. Because some puzzles are just too good to put down.