Stanley Whitney

To arrive at at the distinct, abstract compositions for which he is renowned, Stanley Whitney applies solid-hued rectangles and stripes around an irregular grid—all while painting in freehand.

For Whitney, however, his colorful, geometric configurations need hardly be consigned to neutral territory. In the lead-up to World Day for International Justice on July 17th, the 74-year-old artist partnered with Lisson Gallery to showcase new drawings that expand on "No to Prison Life" as a series that had grown from a 2016 abstract painting to a public mural completed in 2019. The titular phrase is echoed in the designations of individual pieces included in the series—as if repeatedly voicing Whitney's succinctly-worded objection to the carceral state as a whole.

Accordingly, ten percent of the proceeds generated from selling these works will go to Agnes Gund's Art for Justice Fund, a nonprofit that directs resources toward artists and other advocates working to end mass incarceration while dismantling the systems that allowed it.