CY GAVIN

Gagosian is pleased to announce an exhibition of new paintings by Cy Gavin in Hong Kong.

May 22 – August 2, 2025

Gavin interprets natural spaces and phenomena with varied mark making that echoes the complexity of the forces that shape the landscape. Depictions of biological, geological, and cosmic structures made with at-times vivid hues, this group of paintings foregrounds themes of growth and transfiguration. Many use unprimed wooden panels as supports, with the visible wood grain itself playing an important compositional role where it is left unpainted. The square format of many of the paintings lends itself to an open-ended range of visual exploration.

Taking a macrocosmic view, Untitled (Protostar) (2025) envisions the birth of our sun as it emerged from a nebula through the accretion of matter at a vast scale.

Several paintings show plants commonly found in the woodlands, prairies, and coasts of North America, including aquatic marsh marigolds and eastern prickly pear cacti. Untitled (Maximilian sunflower) (2024), the exhibition’s largest work, depicts at life size a tall, profusely flowering plant which is heliotropic, following the sun’s motion. Untitled (Tide pool) (2025) and Untitled (Mussels) (2024), describe dynamic intertidal microhabitats affected by the moon.

Another set of paintings investigates the radial, spiraling structures of spiderwebs, their linear strands defined by Gavin’s painted demarcation of the negative space between them.