Uri Aran, Patricia Ayres, Julie Beaufils, Sedrick Chisom, Carroll Dunham, Nat Faulkner, Sasha Gordon, Kenji Ide, Olivia van Kuiken, Heidi Lau, Jack O’Brien, Kent O’Connor, Trevor Shimizu, Michelle Uckotter
Nocturnal
Sep 23 – Nov 14, 2026
Opening: Wednesday, Sep 23, 5pm – 7pm
Artist talk led by Matthew Brown begins promptly at 5pm
© Sasha Gordon. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner, New York.
David Zwirner is pleased to announce a group exhibition organized and conceived by gallerist Matthew Brown that brings together a group of artists who work primarily in the hours of darkness. Nocturnal presents work by Uri Aran, Patricia Ayres, Julie Beaufils, Sedrick Chisom, Carroll Dunham, Nat Faulkner, Sasha Gordon, Kenji Ide, Olivia van Kuiken, Heidi Lau, Jack O’Brien, Kent O’Connor, Trevor Shimizu, and Michelle Uckotter.
Across painting and sculpture, these artists draw upon what fellow nocturnal creative Joan Mitchell called “electric light,” harnessing this visual and temporal state to make works that thrum with the particular energies of darkness and offer an alternative to waking life. For some of the artists on view, nighttime foments periods of creativity and productivity unavailable to them during the day. Olivia van Kuiken observes, “I primarily work at night because it’s the only time when it feels like everyone else turns off. There’s also something about night where I’m less inhibited, less judgmental. I can paint freely without feeling anyone’s eyes on me, let alone my own.” Drawing from lunar cycles, Heidi Lau’s standing sculpture draws on emergent landscapes, its surface forming a hybrid of geological formations and tidal movements shaped by the moon. Suspended above it is a circular ceramic form from Lau’s Moon Jar series, connecting terrestrial and celestial realms.
Others take advantage of night’s oneiric associations, harnessing the power and fantasy of dreamscapes—and still others might make use of the privacy and quiet afforded by these late hours. For Kenji Ide, the nocturnal has become a recurring theme in his sculptures: “The night frequently appears in my work; it is a time when I walk, reflect, and feel truly free. As the movement of society comes to a halt, I feel that my own personal time begins. The darkness and minimal light shift the weight of my mind, allowing me to reach the entrance of an imaginative world. Blurred shapes, with their outlines faded and softened, overflow their boundaries and blend into one another. In such a hazy space, I am able to project and see my own mind.”
The works in Nocturnal call upon the temporal arc from dusk to dawn, exploring how artists have variously invoked its romantic, eerie, eccentric, gloomy, and peaceful aspects. Regarding how the nighttime shifts a setting within a composition, Michelle Uckotter notes, “What is a room but a pinewood box? When we’re left with only artificial light from a bulb or screen, or ambient streetlight coming through a window, it has a way of compressing space into a neat little chamber. Psychological games begin to play out around the shapes in the dark. Just as quickly the narrative dissolves, leaving you alone in a silent room.”
Articles
Ruth Asawa and Scott Kahn / Review / November 19, 2024
Neo Rauch 尼奧·勞赫 / Review / March 6, 2024
Frank Walter / Review / October 19, 2023
Rirkrit Tiravanija / Review / August 5, 2023
Alice Neel / City / February 24, 2023
Sherrie Levine / Review / February 9, 2022
Philip-Lorca diCorcia / Feature / November 14, 2019
Marcel Dzama / Review / June 24, 2019
Wolfgang Tillmans / Feature / March 21, 2018
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Tu-Sa 11am – 7pm
David Zwirner is a contemporary art gallery with spaces in New York, London, Hong Kong and Paris that represents nearly 80 artists and estates. Since opening its doors in 1993, the gallery has been home to innovative, singular, and pioneering exhibitions reflecting a diversity of aesthetic styles and movements. David Zwirner has consistently ranked in the top five of ArtReview’s Power 100 list since 2012.
Represented Artists
Tomma Abts, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Anni Albers, Josef Albers, Francis Alÿs, Mamma Andersson, Diane Arbus, Michael Armitage, Lucas Arruda, Ruth Asawa, Katherine Bernhardt, Huma Bhabha, Michaël Borremans, Carol Bove, R. Crumb, Noah Davis, Raoul De Keyser, Roy DeCarava, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Stan Douglas, Marlene Dumas, Marcel Dzama, William Eggleston, Dan Flavin, Suzan Frecon, Isa Genzken, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Donald Judd, On Kawara, Toba Khedoori, Paul Klee, Barbara Kruger, Shio Kusaka, Yayoi Kusama, Sherrie Levine, Nate Lowman, Kerry James Marshall, Gordon Matta-Clark, John McCracken, Joan Mitchell, Giorgio Morandi, Juan Muñoz, Oscar Murillo, Alice Neel, Jockum Nordström, Chris Ofili, Palermo, Raymond Pettibon, Sigmar Polke, Neo Rauch, Ad Reinhardt, Jason Rhoades, Bridget Riley, Thomas Ruff, Robert Ryman, Fred Sandback, Dana Schutz, Richard Serra, Steven Shearer, Josh Smith, Al Taylor, Diana Thater, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Luc Tuymans, Andra Ursuţa, Merrill Wagner, James Welling, Franz West, Doug Wheeler, Christopher Williams, Jordan Wolfson, Rose Wylie, Liu Ye, Yun Hyong-keun, Lisa Yuskavage, Portia Zvavahera