Lot143 N11733 Reggie Burrows Hodges Hurdling: Sky Blue
"Hodges begins by painting a raw canvas black. Then he paints his figures and their atmosphere on top of that. His hand is everywhere in his work, in control but not controlling."
Soaring in midair, launched above an expanse of hurdles, Reggie Burrows Hodges’ figure is undaunted and unstoppable. Hailing from the artist’s first solo exhibition at Karma, New York, Hodges’ Hurdling: Sky Blue is an exceptional test.mes nt of the artist’s triumphant reimagining of Contemporary figurative painting. Hodges captures fleeting, illusory moments that evoke a dream-like state between memory and reality. Technique is central to Hodges' practice—he constructs his compositions from a foundational dark ground, allowing the application of luminescent pigments in the background of his compositions to define the shape of his subjects. In Hodges’ best work, such as Hurdling: Sky Blue, his figures created from negative space simultaneously rise to the surface of the composition and suggest a space and t.mes beyond the confines of the picture plane. Harnessing a transitory moment of flight and action, Hurdling: Sky Blue is among Hodges' paintings which explore athletic competition—here, depicting a track-and-field hurdler indomitable as they overcome obstacles on the track with unflinching determination.
Bounding above a seemingly infinite sequence of hurdles, Hodges’ figure emerges from an incandescent magenta sky. Hodges creates an ethereal black border around the edges of his composition, as if his vignette emerges from a memory just out of reach. His figure springs towards the viewer at a seemingly rapid pace, jumping over hurdle after hurdle. As an athlete himself —once a collegiate tennis player and former coach —Hodges is keenly attuned to the physical and mental demands of competition. Here, he portrays a sport that requires an exceptional level of focus and determination—the slightest misstep or deviation leading to failure. The sky behind the figure is an incandescent pink, punctuated only by the slightest hint of blue at the edges. The title of Hodges’ painting seems to suggest something else: hope. The “Blue Sky” is not actual but.mes taphorical, referring to victory, despite obstacles. Sport, as a physiological challenge and source of spectacle, is an enduring theme in Hodges' practice.
"Hodges, down to his bones, is a romantic about painting… Nor would I have realized any of this if Hodges didn’t relay, in his intricately worked-out and free images, what a pleasure jumping into pleasure can be—sort of like a delicious giant pool filled with welcoming, temperate water. A giant pool shimmering under a phalanx of trees over that road where artists work out their ideas about death and life and color.”
A defining characteristic of Hodges' work is his layering technique: the artist begins each painting by applying black pigment to his canvas. The artist remarks: “I start with a black ground [as a way] of dealing with blackness’s totality. I’m painting an environment in which the figures emerge from negative space... If you see my paintings in person, you’ll look at the depth.” (the artist quoted in: Hilton Als, “Nature Abhors A Vacuum,” in Exh. Cat., New York, Karma, Reggie Burrows Hodges, 2021) Through the application of vivid pastels on the surface of his painted canvases, Hodges realizes his compositions and forms his figures through void. Hodges’ silhouetted subjects are defined by anonymity, yet are highly specific in their posture, clothing, and actions. Transcending categorization, Hodges’ works are clearly figurative yet formed from abstraction—his subjects are composed of negative space.
Hurdling: Sky Blue is an exemplar of Hodges acclaimed practice, dating to the artist’s breakthrough exhibition at Karma in 2021. Since this t.mes , the artist has been the subject of widespread critical acclaim. Hodges’ work has recently been featured in institutional presentations at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; The Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland; the Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, and the Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover. Furthermore, numerous examples of the artist’s work are held in permanent museum collects ions, including The Studio Museum, Harlem; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the Art Institute of Chicago.
