Contributed by Will Maddoxx / “Thief of Joy,” Harsh Collective’s first show at its new location on the Lower East Side, brings together three emerging Gen-Z painters who explore contemporary anxieties about identity and self-image. Shows like this can feel confined to the present moment, but this one offers sufficient nuance to escape the trap.
The title comes from the saying “comparison is the thief of joy,” sometimes attributed to Theodore Roosevelt. Ranking is in some ways the scourge of the internet age, in which identity and personhood become rated and gamified. Art is susceptible to the same kind of competitive regimentation: “This one’s much better than the last,” “this is the best you’ve ever done,” “I liked it when you used more greens,” etc. But this show rues the phenomenon rather than celebrating it. Confusion and obscurity are important to its curation. Each of the three artists seems overwhelmed by the vastness of accessible information. Throughout the exhibition, images merge, cut each other off, blur, and overlap. There’s a sense that you’re seeing something you shouldn’t, or, alternatively, barely missing out on a great secret.
Andy Marlowe’s LET IT LIE, fig is a beautifully rendered painting of what appears to be a woman, overexposed as if by flash photography. The reference image could be a selfie or a photo taken by a significant other. Though it has an air of innocence, the way it’s rendered – in a limited-value scale on MDF, displayed on nails and slightly blurred or pixelated – makes the image feel sadly voyeuristic. With the title’s prompt, I surmised I was looking at someone who had passed.
Nicolina Morra’s painting Arrobamiento stunned me. Chromatically shrouded like an underexposed photograph, it depicts a pair of feet and shoes lifting out of the frame, with a blurred sky behind them. The painting’s low value scale immediately suggests that something is wrong. Whereas ascent into the sky intuitively ought to impart enlightening liberation, here the feet in dark stockings and dark shoes stand only seem further benighted by a dark sky with dark clouds.
Photo courtesy of the gallery’s Instagram.
Lucy Luckovich’s Collapse may be emblematic of the show’s theme. A face, cropped and centered on a forlorn eye, is pulled in two directions. What looks like hair falls in front of the eye but is presented flatly, like graphic illustration. At the edges of the canvas, the pigment of the skin dissolves into loose, gestural abstraction. It’s as if the humanity of the portrait has departed, the figure looking away and accepting its loss of self.
“Lucy Luckovich, Andy Marlowe, and Nicolina Morra: Thief of Joy,” Harsh Collective, 279 Broome Street, New York, NY. Through June 27, 2026.
About the author: Will Maddoxx is a New York-based artist from Nashville.
