Steven Alexander blogs about TAL R: Keyhole at Cheim and Read, New York, on view through February 11, 2017.

Alexander writes: “The paintings are made with raw pigment and rabbit skin glue on rough linen, which creates a unique scumbled surface and sensual vibrant color. These are breathtakingly beautiful pieces that operate as brilliant metaphors for painting — the frontally of the plane that both seduces with its material beauty and conceals the messy business that goes on ‘in the back room’.”

Alexander’s exhibition Places to Be is on view at Curator Gallery, New York through February 18, 2017.