Gagosian is pleased to present UNREAL, an exhibition of new paintings by Julie Curtiss, in New York.
November 10–December 19, 2026
Curtiss’s stylized figures are positioned so their faces remain obscured, while the paintings’ cropped compositions of isolated body parts construct an overarching narrative of humanistic observation and sly humor. Set in a metropolitan fever dream of intimate apartment interiors, laundromats, bodegas, and a fortune teller’s window, this body of work examines life in New York City, reflecting on identity, gender, and aging with a pervasive feeling of unreality.
Throughout her practice, Curtiss creates uncanny connections between humanity and nature. In Shoots (2026), she depicts a seated seminude woman in profile, lit from below in the shallow space between a houseplant and a wall. Leaning forward with her head down, her fingers comb her hair as both figure and foreground merge to cast a fantastical shadow of downward posture and upward growth upon a lush green gradient. Elsewhere in the exhibition, Curtiss pays homage to Impressionist traditions, rendering a woman with a parasol in Before the Storm (2026).
The only beings with unobscured faces are the animals that populate UNREAL, each functioning as an enigmatic symbol and projection of a psychological state. In Grand Street (2026), Curtiss pictures aquarium tanks of fish, mussels, and a crab deftly bathed in varied qualities of colorful light in a restaurant kitchen. This nocturnal view illuminates the fate of these creatures further reinforced by roasted ducks hung in the window, each crowded tank recalling densely stacked units of residential high-rises.
Other animals enact imagined scenes that combine the familiar with the preternatural, conjuring the experience of coming across unexpected vignettes in rapid succession as one rounds a corner or glances into a window. In the starkly flattened composition of Bodega (2026), the hindquarters of an elephant appear inside a shop door, with an exterior covered by ads for baked goods and deli sandwiches, a surprising juxtaposition of the sort that becomes commonplace in the city and a reflection of human activity in the urban jungle.