Not Just a Pretty Picture is Rhona Hoffman Gallery's final exhibition in their West Town space opening March 14th. This group show includes drawings, assemblage, sculpture, prints, and paintings by established artists Giovanni Anselmo, Susan Hefuna, Sol LeWitt, Gordon Matta-Clark, Sylvia Mangold, Martin Puryear, Edda Renouf, Richard Tuttle, and Gunter Umberg. This exhibition displays Gallerist Rhona Hoffman's depth as a curator in its appreciation for the artist's exploration of materiality, process, concept, and inquiry into the human condition. 

The artists manifest their investigations into philosophical states of being and formal queries in their respective practices. They engage, reveal, and offer experiences of existential dualities: simplicity and complexity; visible and invisible; humble and divine. Ranging from Anselmo's Verso Oltremare (Towards Overseas), a 500lb esoteric sculpture made of Italian piedmont granite, wire, and aquamarine paint to Tuttle's quizzical lure to gaze upon the ordinary with wonder. These works engage both the intellect and intuition with weighty integrity, beauty, and ephemeral calm. 

Giovanni Anselmo (b.1934 – d.2023, Turin, Italy), a key figure in the Arte Povera movement, explored forces of nature, gravity, and tension in his minimalist sculptures and installations. His works often incorporated raw materials like stone, wood, and metal, engaging with ideas of impermanence and energy. He had major solo exhibitions at the Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna and Castello di Rivoli in Italy, and Kunstmuseum Winterthur in Switzerland. He was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale in 1990. 

Susan Hefuna (b.1962, Cairo, Egypt) works across drawing, photography, video, and sculpture, exploring themes of cultural identity, architecture, and language. Influenced by her German-Egyptian heritage, she often incorporates intricate patterns, mashrabiya designs, and layered narratives in her work. She has had solo exhibitions at the Serpentine Gallery in London, Pi Artworks in Istanbul, and Sharjah Art Foundation. In 2011, she was nominated for the Jameel Prize at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Sol LeWitt (b.1928 – d.2007, New York, NY) was a pioneering figure in Minimalism and Conceptual Art, best known for his geometric wall drawings and modular sculptures. His philosophy emphasized the idea behind the work over its execution, allowing assistants to produce his pieces based on precise instructions. His work was the focus of major solo exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and MASS MoCA in 2008, where a large-scale installation remains on permanent view.

Gordon Matta-Clark (b.1943 – d.1978, New York, NY), trained as an architect, became famous for his "building cuts", radical interventions that sliced through abandoned structures. His work questioned urban space, decay, and social structures, leaving a lasting impact on contemporary architecture and conceptual art. He had important solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in 1977, Centre Pompidou in Paris, and The Bronx Museum of the Arts. In 1977, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for Architecture, Planning & Design.

Sylvia Plimack Mangold (b.1938, New York,NY) is known for her precise, observational paintings, focusing on both interior spaces—particularly depictions of floors and mirrors—and the natural world, especially trees. Her work engages with realism, perception, and the passage of time. She has had solo exhibitions at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, and Alexander and Bonin Gallery in New York. In 1979, she received a National Endowment for the Arts Grant.

Martin Puryear (b.1941, Washington, D.C.) is a sculptor known for his handcrafted wooden forms, blending traditional craftsmanship with modernist abstraction. His work, often organic and symbolic, reflects influences from architecture, African art, and his background in furniture-making. His sculptures have been featured in major exhibitions at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the U.S. Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Over his career, he has received significant honors, including a MacArthur Fellowship in 1989 and the Gold Medal for Sculpture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2007.

Edda Renouf’s (b.1943, Mexico City, Mexico) minimalist paintings and drawings explore the physical qualities of paper and canvas. By incising, rubbing, and layering pigment, she creates meditative compositions that evoke rhythms in nature and music. Her work has been exhibited in solo shows at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and Galerie m Bochum in Germany. She received a National Endowment for the Arts Grant in 1980.

Richard Tuttle (b.1941, Rahway, NJ) is a conceptual artist working in the space between painting, sculpture, and drawing. Known for his delicate, understated works, he challenges traditional art categories through the use of humble materials and irregular forms that invite close engagement with space and perception. His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Whitney Museum in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Tate Modern in London. He was awarded the Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture in 1998.

Günter Umberg’s (b.1942, Bonn, Germany) work focuses on the material and optical qualities of painting, particularly the depth and texture of monochrome surfaces. His velvety, dark pigments create intense visual fields that invite contemplation and shift with changing light. His paintings have been exhibited in solo shows at Kunstmuseum Bonn, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, and Dia Art Foundation in New York in 2010. In 2000, he was honored with the Will-Grohmann Prize from the Berlin Academy of Arts.

Image: Giovanni Anselmo

Verso Oltremare, 1984

Stone, wire, ultramarine paint

114 x 51 inches