Contributed by Peter Schroth / Barbara Takenaga’s current exhibition at DC Moore, “Parallax,” picks up from her 2024 exhibit “Whatsis” and continues an arc roughly twenty years in the making. The works are acrylic on canvas and panel and range from diminutive rectangles to monumental multi-paneled pieces.Takenaga iterates her signature techniques of pouring and handwork seamlessly, in a lead-and-follow approach that balances randomness, intuition, and calculation. Scrutinizing the surfaces to discern where one method ends and another begins will produce frustration. Her paintings’ most prepossessing features are visual opulence and kinetic energy. The works can be divided into two general categories: auroral fields and hard-edge shapes in a bold, open palette.
Parallax is a distortional phenomenon encountered in, among other endeavors, measuring cosmic distances. Takenaga’s more celestial-leaning works are about light in darkness and expanding space. They exude an eternity of quiet spectacle. By contrast, the graphic works are wildly animated with vibrant color. The result is a pinballing fantasia of references that are disparate yet harmonious: stars appear as flashbulb orbs or snowball-comets; meteor showers dissolve into spermatozoa droplets; the dying sparks of cosmic fireworks fizzle and fade. Blue Five draws the viewer into an almost physical engagement, generating a spray that scatters like mercury.
In these works, as in nature, galaxies do collide, interact, and merge, and Takenaga mirrors this cosmological drama with compelling effect. In Rayo X, elements of Blue Five merge with the color/shape works at once cosmically and comically. In pieces like Duet, STL Trip, Jive, and Do-Si-Do 1 and 2, Cubism is extravagantly transformed. Unfurling shapes evoke circus tents and party poppers as well as ribbon dances, which symbolize air and freedom. Each painting radiates a jubilant, celebratory spirit, reinforced by playful titles. This is a universe where Colonel Bleep triumphs and Bugs Bunny is blasted into space, shredding his kimono. While the work is more about the act of painting than its objective referents, art is rooted in lived experience. This artist belongs to the generation that grew up with the “space race,” which generated a novel cast of characters such as astronauts and cosmonauts and a new sense of wonder.
A backroom displays numerous small works, many under ten inches, resembling fragments of larger compositions. While the exhibition’s ambition is impressive, its sheer abundance dilutes the impact. Culling the show by a third would likely amplify its effect and better frame its virtues. Even so, “Parallax” is a thoroughly engaging and frankly magical exhibition, pulsing with elemental energy and unabashed innocence. In their democratic celebrations of life through color and image, Takenaga’s paintings are for anyone willing to look
“Barbara Takenaga: Parallax,” DC Moore Gallery, 535 West 22nd Street, New York, NY. Through May 2, 2026.
About the author: Peter Schroth is a Brooklyn based painter.
