Eric Hibit | The Big Seed: Solo exhibition

Morgan Lehman Gallery is pleased to present The Big Seed, a solo exhibition by New York-based artist Eric Hibit. Gardens and gardening continue to be central themes in Hibit’s practice; the flowers and plants he cultivates often become subject matter for his paintings. In Nasturtium Leaves, he reimagines his subject as enlarged and abstracted, streaked with color gradations that evoke the play of light on a summer day. In Sunspots in the Garden, a stylized hydrangea sprouts a pair of suspicious eyes within a lush garden, bathed in vivid sunrise hues. Flowers in Strongman Vase features one of Hibit’s handmade ceramic vessels cradling blooms he grows himself: dahlias, snapdragons, and daisies. The classic “flowers in a vase” theme also fuels his ink-on-paper works, which prioritize immediacy, gesture, and the artist’s sensitivity to pressure and touch.

Though rooted in botanical imagery, Hibit ventures into adjacent subjects with bold invention. In The Order of the Sky, cloud-like forms twist into sharp architectural angles. In Fruit Stand as Painter’s Palette, market produce bursts from its containers with rhythmic urgency and buoyancy.

Dots—Hibit’s signature motif—anchor the compositions and unify the varied imagery. Ranging from minuscule accents to cookie-sized discs of layered color, these forms heighten the physicality of acrylic paint, gushing with tactility. At times recalling reptile skin or cellular structures, Hibit’s surfaces reflect the pulse of the artist’s hand and the obsessiveness of his process. Color is another unifying force: rather than relying on pure black, white, or gray, Hibit meticulously mixes and labels dozens of nuanced hues in his studio. Even his blacks, whites, and grays are blended with subtle reds, greens, or yellows, infusing each artwork with chromatic electricity.

Ovals are a recurring motif in Hibit’s recent paintings, symbolizing potential, growth, and movement. In The Big Seed, a massive oval sprouts among clouds and floral bursts. Elsewhere, ovals appear in the curves of leaves, mushrooms, and stems. Using simple math and precise measurements, Hibit creates a range of oval stencils to render a variety of forms across his compositions. Referencing the flourishes of Baroque design, the oval serves as both a formal anchor and an emblem of expansion, vitality, and the exuberant spirit that defines this exhibition.

Eric Hibit is Co-director of OyG Projects, a leading artist-run nonprofit gallery in Gowanus, Brooklyn. He holds a BFA from the Corcoran College of Art + Design (1998) and an MFA from Yale University (2003). His work has been exhibited at Brooklyn Museum, Morgan Lehman Gallery, Dinner Gallery, and nationally at the Weatherspoon Art Museum (NC), Hexum Gallery (VT), and Cape Cod Museum of Art, among others. Internationally, he has shown in Sweden, France, and Norway.

Hibit’s work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Village Voice, Hyperallergic, Newsweek, and The New York Post. He is currently a Visiting Critic at Cornell AAP and has taught studio art at The Cooper Union, NYU, Hunter College, Drexel University, Tyler School of Art, and Suffolk County Community College.

Artist residencies include the Terra Foundation in Giverny, France (2003), UNILEVER in New York (2015), and Kingsbrae International and Green Olive Arts (both 2019). His publications include Dear Hollywood Writers with poet Geoffrey Young (2017), Paintings and Fables with Wayne Koestenbaum (2017), and Color Theory for Dummies (Wiley, 2022). Hibit is based in Queens, New York.