Harold Ancart

"Traveling Light" marks Harold Ancart's first one-person exhibition with David Zwirner in New York City following the Belgian artist's solo debut with the gallery out of its London location in 2018.

Unfolding across David Zwirner's two Chelsea spaces, the show highlights new paintings that Ancart completed between his Brooklyn studio and a makeshift setup in Los Angeles during the COVID-19 lockdown.

On view at 533 West 19th Street is a series in which each composition centers on the upper part of a single tree. Across ten canvases, similarly-rendered masses of green foliage appear against varying shades of sky, from grey to pink to blue, and even, in one instance, the inferno-like orange-red of a fast-approaching wildfire [pictured]. Installed at 525 West 19th Street are two monumental triptychs: one depicting a mountain range; the other, a seascape.

Though well-versed in the vernacular of abstraction, Ancart openly looks to the natural world for inspiration. This stance extends beyond the theoretical with "Traveling Light," as the entire presentation is carbon-neutral. — Matt Mullen