In this monthly roundup, we spotlight five stellar exhibitions at small and rising galleries.
“Figure in the Field”
Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York
Through Feb. 21st
What happens when the background of an artwork is just as important as the foreground? “Figure in the Field,” curated by Brooklyn painter Jan Dickey at New York’s Morgan Lehman Gallery, brings together nine artists who draw attention to the background as an active part of the image. The exhibition shows how each of the nine painters negotiate the relationship between figure and field differently.
New York–based artist Dan Gausman’s Volaris Vortex (2025) uses professional tennis-court paint on concrete in a work that redraws court lines into spiraling arcs. Here, he turns the playing surface itself, usually seen as a backdrop, into the primary subject. Meanwhile, French painter Claire Nicolet’s Nocturne: What the Bee Has Seen(2023) depicts stylized plants and clouds in layered blues, flattening the landscape almost as if it were a pattern. On the other hand, American artist Amy MacKay lets the background consume her figure. A Loving Embrace(2025) consists of layered pastel oil paint that depicts two translucent figures, which seem to appear gradually within the surrounding color field rather than standing apart from it.
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