JAMES LITTLE: AFFIRMED/ACTIONS

Petzel is pleased to present Affirmed/Actions, an exhibition of new abstract paintings by Memphis-born, New York-based artist James Little. 

November 7, 2024 - January 11, 2025

Little’s signature encaustic process, enabling him to compose matte, yet richly textured surfaces, began with experiments as a student in the early 70s. Combining wax and oil, Little has since refined his materials through custom, alchemical mixes and singular application methods. His works are labor-intensive, taking many months to create, and represent a decades-long inquiry into form, color, and composition. Little remarks, “My orbit is pretty much contained with that subject matter and decision making...it’s a kind of step-by-step approach. It’s always about a pictorial phenomenon and analytical thinking.”

One such “step-by-step approach” is evidenced through his oil on linen white paintings, in which Little lays a ground before coating the surface in layers of multicolored speckles, often using an eyedropper. Little then selectively masks off his surfaces, before blanketing the canvases in a wash of white paint, then revealing rows of stars, dots, or squares once partially dry. This body of work foregrounds the artist’s treatment of the paint itself, highlighting Little’s reverence for both “truth to materials” and formal harmony.

Affirmed/Actions also features new black paintings by the artist, and the debut of oil and wax white works, pushing his abiding study of “light as a medium” further: while Little’s black paintings absorb light, the artist’s white counterparts reflect it. Little’s former series, composed of black striped stars and diamonds, are both flat and expansive, imbued with geometric precision and power. Little’s white paintings band together rolling chevron patterns and pointed diamonds, achieving a spectrum of shifting shades, which Little has achieved by using only two tints of white.

While his titles allude to social commentary, Little adopts a “non-narrative, non-descriptive language” in his paintings, focused on core tenets of abstraction. Little’s newest works reveal their impact through an adherence to the artist’s principles and formal rigor, radiating energy and emotion beyond their planes.