New York’s O’Flaherty’s gallery has once again defied conventions with its latest exhibition, “The Bitch.” Pairing the avant-garde provocations of Matthew Barney with the bold abstractions of Alex Katz, this show is as enigmatic as its title. Running through December 19, it’s a rare convergence of two iconic artists whose vastly different practices collide in surprising harmony.
The centerpiece, DRAWING RESTRAINT 28 (2024), features Katz climbing a ladder to paint an 8-by-10-foot abstraction titled Road 25 (2024). Displayed on three screens in a ghostly sports bar-like arrangement, the video alternates between Katz’s rhythmic movements and bursts of psychedelic soundscapes and chromatic shocks of orange and blue. Barney, inspired by Katz’s disciplined physicality, approached the work as an “athletic event.”
Sound design by Barney’s collaborator Jonathan Bepler heightens the experience, transforming ambient noises into surreal distortions. Upstairs, Katz’s Road 25 captivates with its luminous simplicity, described by Barney as embodying “negative space” and a chromatic afterimage of the sky.
Balancing Katz’s ethereal stillness is Barney’s Water Cast 10 (2015), a bronze sculpture formed through explosive casting. The fleeting nature of its creation mirrors the philosophical undercurrents of Katz’s abstractions.
Conceived by gallery co-founder Jamian Juliano-Villani, the pairing highlights the unexpected harmony between Barney’s experimental vision and Katz’s disciplined mastery. While Katz found the collaboration “Great…totally bizarre,” the exhibition underscores art’s power to juxtapose and unite.
As O’Flaherty’s prepares to vacate its current space, “The Bitch” stands as a fleeting but monumental chapter in its history—a testament to the enduring brilliance of Barney and Katz.
