Judy Ledgerwood: Twilight in the Wilderness

Offering a contrast to the staid landscapes of the Hudson River School, Ledgerwood invokes typically feminine colors and crafts in her newest works

Since the 1980s, Chicago-based artist Judy Ledgerwood (born 1959) has confronted and expanded the history of abstract painting by decentering perceptions of its neutrality and prioritizing visual engagement and pleasure. Drawing upon rich and diverse sources from the realms of both fine art and popular culture, her optically bold, large-scale canvases engage viewers in active looking and challenge conventional notions of beauty and taste. Titled after Frederic Edwin Church's 1860 painting, Twilight in the Wilderness presents four new paintings inspired by the drama and color of refracted light just before nightfall. Monumental in scale, these works blaze with hot pinks, golden yellows, burnt oranges, teals and vivid greens-colors that heighten the works' radiance and emotional intensity. The fully illustrated catalog features an essay by art historian Helen Molesworth and an introduction by the artist.