January 23–May 23, 2027

Udo Nöger (b. 1961, Germany) works not on painting, but inside it. In this body of work, created in San Diego where the artist has lived for over ten years, the canvas is not a surface on which to apply color. Rather, Nöger has taken apart and reassembled the structure of painting itself. Though each luminous work appears as a unified whole, his canvases are composed of three distinct layers, whose depth forms an interior space for the play of light and shadow. On the center layer, Nöger creates a painted surface, applying fields of shimmering, muted colors. He then cuts out sections of the canvas, allowing light to pass through. This painted and cut layer is enclosed between a bottom panel and an opalescent surface of silk soaked in mineral oil. Held within this structure, light is not simply reflected; it is captured and transformed.

Nöger’s perfectly smooth surfaces shift our attention to the subtleties of depth, atmosphere, and perception while remaining committed to painting’s fundamental elements: canvas, stretcher, and surface. An accompanying suite of drawings explores the same questions of light through seemingly impenetrable fields of darkness.

Featured at top right: Udo Nöger, Lichtbild 48 (Light Painting 48) (detail), 2026. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of the artist.