Past Exhibitions

Jacqueline Humphries: jHΩ1:)

A view of three large abstract canvases hanging in the Wexner Center's galleries, with one canvas with red brushstrokes in the foreground and a green painting and multicolored painting in the background. The walls are white, the floors are wood and dark marble, and there is a glass and steel wall to the right.
gallery icon View Gallery
Sep 18, 2021–Jan 02, 2022
Thursday's Hours 10AM–8PM
Galleries

ADMISSION
Free for advocate and ambassador members, college students (with valid ID), patrons under 18, active military, and veterans
$7 senior citizens (65 and older), Ohio State faculty and staff (with BuckID)
$9 general public

All visitors are admitted to the exhibition for free on Thursdays after 4 PM and on Sundays courtesy of American Electric Power Foundation. The exhibition is closed on Mondays.

Please note: due to university guidelines on the COVID-19 pandemic, we have reduced capacity in our galleries and face coverings will be required in all areas of the center. We strongly recommend you purchase tickets online in advance of your visit and limit the items you bring with you. Tickets are also available at the Visitor Experience Desk on our entrance level or by calling (614) 292-3535 when the building is open.

You will be asked to check backpacks, large purses and other large bags, and umbrellas before entering the galleries. Click here for full list of policies, including items prohibited in the galleries; click here for more about the center’s COVID-19 safety protocols. With uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, program dates are subject to change.

We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. If you have questions about accessibility or require an accommodation such as captioning or ASL interpretation to participate in this event, please contact Accessibility Manager Helyn Marshall at accessibility@wexarts.org or via telephone at (614) 688–3890. Requests made by two weeks in advance will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the Wexner Center for the Arts will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.

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This fall, the Wexner Center will devote its galleries to the first large-scale museum exhibition of vanguard abstract painter Jacqueline Humphries.

A maverick figure in New York’s downtown scene, Humphries has reworked and revitalized the language of abstract painting over a career that has covered four decades and multiple transformations in style. The Wex’s presentation will focus on the past seven years, highlighting the importance of digital communications and online culture to Humphries’s evolving practice. Guest curated by Mark Godfrey, the exhibition features dozens of paintings, including a new multipanel installation—her largest to date—created in response to the center’s iconic postmodernist architecture.

Incorporating the QWERTY keyboard as a means of generating abstract form, some paintings feature emoticons, emoji, kaomoji, and CAPTCHA. Humphries produces others by scanning her earlier works, translating them into ASCII character code, and using stencils created from the results as the basis for new paintings.

The exhibition will also feature Humphries’s recent work exploring the visual language of corporate logos; her black light paintings, made with fluorescent paints to be presented in a darkened space; and a selection of protest sign paintings. These invoke art’s long history as a medium of dissent as well as the uprisings that have increasingly shaped modern politics. For this presentation, Humphries, Godfrey, and the Wex team have fixed on and multiplied the wedge shape of architect Peter Eisenman’s design of the center, creating semidiscrete galleries within galleries.

Watch wexarts.org for further details about upcoming programs, including a fall exhibition opening (September 17) featuring a conversation between Humphries and guest curator Mark Godfrey; a free talk by Godfrey titled “Where Does Art Lie?” (October 4); and a performative dialogue between Humphries and artist and writer Felix Bernstein (October 27).

ABOVE
Jacqueline Humphries
jHΩ1:), 2018 (detail)
Oil on linen
114 x 127 in.
The Abrishamchi Family Collection
Courtesy of the artist and Greene Naftali, New York
© Jacqueline Humphries
Photo: Jason Mandella

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In the Store

"Few painters today engage with the challenges of new technology as persuasively as Jacqueline Humphries."
New York Times
A view of five abstract paintings hung in a special wedge-shaped space in the Wexner Center galleries lit only with ultraviolet light. A large yellow canvas hangs near the ceiling while four smaller monochrome red, blue, and green canvases hang at eye level.

Installation view of Jacqueline Humphries: jHΩ1:) at the Wexner Center.

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Program Support

Organized by the Wexner Center for the Arts and curated by Mark Godfrey with assistance from Associate Curator of Exhibitions Daniel Marcus and Curatorial Associate Kristin Helmick-Brunet. Organizational support for the exhibition is provided by Greene Naftali, New York; Modern Art, London; and Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne.

THIS PRESENTATION MADE POSSIBLE BY
Girlfriend Fund
Greene Naftali, New York

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR THIS PRESENTATION PROVIDED BY
Agnes Gund
Anonymous
Miyoung Lee and Neil Simpkins
Council for Canadian American Relations
Sandra and Leo DelZotto
Joyce and Chuck Shenk
Lisa Stein and Craig Colvin
Nancy and Dave Gill
Jack Cayre

EXHIBITIONS MADE POSSIBLE BY
Bill and Sheila Lambert
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
Crane Family Foundation
Mike and Paige Crane

FREE SUNDAYS POWERED BY
American Electric Power Foundation

WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
The Wexner Family
Greater Columbus Arts Council
The Columbus Foundation
Ohio Arts Council
American Electric Power Foundation
Adam Flatto
Mary and C. Robert Kidder
Bill and Sheila Lambert
L Brands Foundation
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Nationwide Foundation
Vorys, Sater, Seymour, and Pease
Arlene and Michael Weiss

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Carol and David Aronowitz
Michael and Paige Crane
Pete Scantland
Axium Packaging
Bocchi Laboratories
Fenwick & West LLP
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
President Kristina M. Johnson and Mrs. Veronica Meinhard
KDC/ONE
Nancy Kramer
M/I Homes
Voyant Beauty
Huntington
Lisa Barton
Regina Miracle International Ltd.
Washington Prime Group
Alene Candles
Fuel Transport
Russell and Joyce Gertmenian
Liza Kessler and Greg Henchel
Matrix Psychological Services
Paramount Group, Inc.
Ron and Ann Pizzuti
Joyce and Chuck Shenk
Bruce and Joy Soll
Clark and Sandra Swanson
Business Furniture Installations
CASTO
E.C. Provini Co, Inc.
Garlock Printing & Converting
Jones Day
M-Engineering
New England Development
Our Country Home
Performance Team
Premier Candle Corporation
ProAmpac
Steiner + Associates
Textile Printing
Andrew and Amanda Wise

Discover More

An abstract painting covered with a complex striped background overlaid with red brushstrokes and twisted CAPTCHA characters that read jHΩ1:)
Past Special Events

Fall Exhibition Preview

Featuring Jacqueline Humphries and Mark Godfrey in Conversation
Fri, Sep 17, 2021
A person stands next to a rock painted to look like the poop emoji, which is a brown object with eyes
Past Film/Video

The Emoji Story

(Ian Cheney and Martha Shane, 2019)
Sun, Sep 19, 2021
Mark Godfrey, a man with close cropped dark hair with a bit of a beard. He's wearing a white shirt, suit coat, and necktie
Past Talks & More

Mark Godfrey

Where Does Art Lie?
Mon, Oct 4, 2021
A pair of images: Jacqueline Humphries and Felix Bernstein
Past Talks & More

A Performative Dialogue Featuring Jacqueline Humphries and Felix Bernstein

Wed, Oct 27, 2021
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Past Exhibitions

Jacqueline Humphries: jHΩ1:)

Sep 18, 2021–Jan 02, 2022
Thursday's Hours 10AM–8PM
Galleries

ADMISSION
Free for advocate and ambassador members, college students (with valid ID), patrons under 18, active military, and veterans
$7 senior citizens (65 and older), Ohio State faculty and staff (with BuckID)
$9 general public

All visitors are admitted to the exhibition for free on Thursdays after 4 PM and on Sundays courtesy of American Electric Power Foundation. The exhibition is closed on Mondays.

Please note: due to university guidelines on the COVID-19 pandemic, we have reduced capacity in our galleries and face coverings will be required in all areas of the center. We strongly recommend you purchase tickets online in advance of your visit and limit the items you bring with you. Tickets are also available at the Visitor Experience Desk on our entrance level or by calling (614) 292-3535 when the building is open.

You will be asked to check backpacks, large purses and other large bags, and umbrellas before entering the galleries. Click here for full list of policies, including items prohibited in the galleries; click here for more about the center’s COVID-19 safety protocols. With uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, program dates are subject to change.

We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. If you have questions about accessibility or require an accommodation such as captioning or ASL interpretation to participate in this event, please contact Accessibility Manager Helyn Marshall at accessibility@wexarts.org or via telephone at (614) 688–3890. Requests made by two weeks in advance will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the Wexner Center for the Arts will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.

Become a Member