Jaqueline Cedar

For Shelter’s final exhibition of 2021, we are pleased to present new paintings by Brooklyn-based artist, educator, and gallery owner Jaqueline Cedar.

Cedar’s paintings depict a rotating cast of characters who are simultaneously anonymous and personalized; they often find themselves in scenarios where they attempt to connect with each other or with their surroundings. The distinction between awkward and graceful is blurred as these figures display vulnerability and uncertainty, their reactions often based on the absurdity of their situations or the all-too-human desire for physical and psychological connection and comfort.

This new series of paintings are intimate distortions of these figures in their individual quests; “Serious Literature” slyly presents a body seemingly bifurcated by a building’s exterior, while in the only large painting in the show, “Paper Moon,” two figures, who appear identical, run under an almost alien sky with three moons. Are these figures showing fear – are they shrinking away or fleeing from circumstances of togetherness – or is there a surprise at impending connectivity? Are we voyeuristically observing a scene not meant for us, or are they putting themselves on display? 

The artist renders each character with elongated bodies and limbs which allows them to accomplish their contortions, both physical and mental. Each figure is not just the focus of each painting, but is also both observer and actor, contained within each frame while also appearing ready to escape from it at any moment.

Jaqueline Cedar was born in Los Angeles, CA and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Cedar is an educator at several New York art museums and in 2019 opened the Brooklyn gallery Good Naked. 2021 exhibitions include Ladies’ Room (Los Angeles, CA), Petty Cash (Brooklyn, NY), Hudson Hall (Hudson, NY), and Field Projects (New York, NY). Recent press includes Artnet, Two Coats of Paint, New American Paintings, and Boston Voyager. Cedar holds an MFA from Columbia University (2009).