Twenty by Sixteen: Group Exhibition

Morgan Lehman is pleased to present the fourth iteration of Twenty by Sixteen, a legacy exhibition originally conceived by curator emeritus Geoffrey Young. The exhibition features two works by more than sixty artists, each measuring exactly 20 × 16 inches. These precise dimensions enabled us to invite a diverse group of artists, extending beyond those typically featured in our exhibition program, and bring together a wide range of perspectives within a shared framework. Conceived as a spirited summer exhibition, Twenty by Sixteen also inaugurates Morgan Lehman's expanded floor plan on the fourth floor of the West Chelsea building.

What follows is a reflection from curator emeritus Geoffrey Young on the enduring premise of the exhibition.

In a show featuring sixty artists, showing two works each––all work by definition

limited to twenty inches tall by sixteen inches wide––the sprawl of the show allows

for and in fact necessitates an unpredictable variety of artistic response.

Though we find ourselves in an increasingly tricky historical time, vacillating

between bemusement, anger, madcap wit or serious resistance, each of us is

obliged to pay attention in our own way.

And these sixty artists have faced the arbitrary but challenging size constraint and found

ways to make it do their business. To bookish minds, the vertical orientation, 20 x 16,

might be reminiscent of a page.  Can we ask, Will this show be “read” by astute

observers as the “pages” fly by?

Other questions might pop up like, has AI been a factor?  Will old-fashioned and

venerable brushwork assert itself?  Will color be unleashed, or contained? Will certain

artists address politics, social life, street life, family life?  And what of the ravages

of war?  Everything is up in the air, or on the walls.  If some work is gorgeously

mysterious, enigmatic by design, other works engage with the elegant sobriety

of aesthetic formality.  And still others are firing on all cylinders and we just have

to watch out!

For many viewers, it can be helpful to ask, What tradition does each work belong to? 

And for others to wonder, “What is the artist trying to say”? In this exciting time, the

values embedded in the creative life have always done their best to redeem the

disturbing failures of humanity. And this show, in all its serious concerns, is no different.  

- Geoffrey Young, Twenty by Sixteen curator emeritus