RJ Messineo
RJ Messineo (b. 1980, Hartford, CT) expands the possibilities of the traditional flat surfaces of painting by physically cutting into and adding onto impasto surfaces while showcasing a variety of palettes, as well as many different painting tempos and emotional tones.
The range of realities in Messineo’s faceted materiality is fostered by cutting into the wooden panels, creating possibilities beyond the normal boundaries of painting. The incised holes happen early or later on in the artist’s process, but each time the cuts change the meaning and trajectory of the painting. The holes expose colors and forms beneath the painting, and interrupt brushstrokes and the swelling colorful fields.
Artist: Studio
"It feels necessary to involve physical construction, like the elements of panel as a second surface, and to deal with paint as a material. For me those second surfaces are the moments when the stuff of the world gets stuck to, and asserts itself in, all this picturing we do."
Artworks
RJ Messineo,
Sideways Stacked,
2023,
78 × 108 in (198.12 × 274.32 cm)
Oil on canvas in three parts
RJ Messineo,
Reminder,
2023,
20 × 16 in (50.8 × 40.64 cm)
Oil on panel
RJ Messineo,
difficult garden,
2023,
20 × 16 in (50.8 × 40.64 cm)
Oil on panel
RJ Messineo,
Plane Tree,
2021,
65 × 41 × 2 in (165.1 × 104.14 × 5.08 cm)
Oil, plywood and rare earth magnets on canvas
RJ Messineo,
Monarch,
2020,
18 × 24 in (45.72 × 60.96 cm)
Oil on linen
RJ Messineo,
Valley,
2020,
78 ¾ × 98 ½ in (200.025 × 250.19 cm)
Oil, plywood and rare earth magnets on canvas
RJ Messineo,
Untitled,
2020,
85 × 64 in (215.9 × 162.56 cm)
Oil on canvas
RJ Messineo,
Untitled (note),
2020,
78 × 50 in (198.12 × 127 cm)
Oil on canvas
RJ Messineo,
Mercy,
2020,
85 × 51 in (215.9 × 129.54 cm)
Oil, plywood and rare earth magnets on canvas
RJ Messineo,
Racking White Yellow Black,
2019,
24 × 20 in (60.96 × 50.8 cm)
Oil and wood on canvas
RJ Messineo,
PLANAR,
2019,
24 × 18 in (60.96 × 45.72 cm)
Oil and wood on panel
RJ Messineo,
Bed (For Louise),
2019,
76 × 54 in (193.04 × 137.16 cm)
Oil and wood on canvas
RJ Messineo,
Lena, Lenore, Lee,
2018,
24 × 18 in (60.96 × 45.72 cm)
Oil on panel
Installation Views
Installation view 4:00 Universe, Moran Moran, Los Angeles, CA, 2020
Installation view 4:00 Universe, Moran Moran, Los Angeles, CA, 2020
Exhibitions
Press
Rick Briggs "RJ Messineo: Existential Magic." Two Coats of Paint December 3, 2021
Ashton Cooper "RJ Messineo, Moran Moran." Artforum July/August 2020
"ARTnews in Brief: Texas Biennial Names Curators for 2020." ARTnews November 6, 2019
Raquel Willis "MOTHA Is Preserving Transgender History One City At a Time." Out April 29, 2019
Tom Burr "Second Surfaces: RJ Messineo Interviewed by Tom Burr." BOMB Magazine March 30, 2018
Andrew Russeth "New York’s Clifton Benevento Gallery Closes." ARTnews May 29, 2016
Mitch Kellaway "PHOTOS: Your 99 Transgender History Lessons." The Advocate May 24, 2015
Alex Fialho "FIAR and a Boffo benefit on Fire Island." Artforum August 27, 2014
CV
b. 1980, Hartford, CT
Lives and works in New York, NY
Education
2009
MFA, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
2002
BFA, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023
Me in Meadow, CANADA East Hampton, East Hampton, NY
Piano Paintings, Morán Morán, Los Angeles, CA
2021
Gold Gold, CANADA, New York, NY
2020
4:00 Universe, Moran Moran, Los Angeles, CA
2018
Fellow Feeling, CANADA, New York, NY
2010
Perfectly Fucked Up for You, Los Caminos, St. Louis, MO
Attached, Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
2009
Imprenta, organized by Wu Tsang and Ryan Inouye, Los Angeles, CA