The first solo institutional exhibition of artist Doron Langberg’s (1985) work in Europe is now on display at Kunsthal Rotterdam; it opened on 1 February 2024. Langberg, who was interviewed on this platform early in his career in 2020, is one of the most prominent figurative painters of his day. He is well-known for his paintings that affirm gay subjectivity. Langberg’s vivid, frequently expansive paintings, which feature himself, his loved ones, friends, lovers, and landscapes, honour the sensuality of touch in both process and subject matter.

Langberg, Doron. Part of Your World staged in Rotterdam is a collection of sixteen new, contemporary paintings that cover the universal themes of love, desire, and location. They range from large, expansive landscapes to intimate portraits. Many of Langberg’s compositions are situated in intimate homes or in landscapes that hold special meaning for him, such as the area around his parents’ Israeli house, or Fire Island.

Coinciding with this museum exhibition is a dual presentation at Victoria Miro in London and in Venice.

Victoria Miro in Venice runs Flowers until 30th March 2024 while Victoria Miro London runs until 28th March 2024. In Venice, the focus of the new works is on landscapes and flower paintings. All made en plein air at different times of the year and each completed in a single session, Doron Langberg captures fleeting moments spontaneously, alighting on patches of ground and recording them in bursts of activity. Night, staged in London, is a tribute to the interior and external nocturnal worlds, as well as the areas of uncertainty, opportunity, and psychological and physical liberty that arise after dark.

Langberg orchestrates numerous figures, textiles, and interior patterns in compositions that blur the lines between subject and surroundings as she explores the possibilities of colour to convey shape, light, atmosphere, and emotion. A unique psychological register is produced by this dynamic interplay, which invites spectators to participate in the gradual revelation of colour, form, and materiality. Langberg’s paintings entice the spectator to interact with the subject, making them both sophisticated and alluring.

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Images: Pete and Horatio, 2023. Oil on linen, 127 x 152.4 cm. Private Collection © Doron Langberg. Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro and Doron Langberg, Bather (2021). Courtesy Victoria Miro.