NADA New York 2024

John Newman’s practice defies categorization by his own design. Using plaster, papier maché, pencil, glue and wood, these wall works operate in a domestic, sarcophagus-sized scale, reckoning with the passage of time and the physicality of the body. The stoic, tactile pieces encourage close inspection, forcing an intimate rapport with their subtle inner details: contourly shading, sloping lines, and sensual mottled textures. Still the viewer finds the work resists immediate association. Newman's objects stand alone, with unconscious desires and non-Euclidean geometry in tension and harmony,