Philip Van Aver:
Paintings, Drawings and Miniatures,
1978 – 2021

March 14–April 29, 2023
Gallery view at an angle. Nearest to the viewer is a freestanding wall on which hang five small, detailed and colorful framed works. The largest work, hung in the center, is a circular painting matted in a square frame. It is flanked on both sides by two paintings hung one above the other. Twelve more works can be seen on the far walls.

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023

Five small, detailed, colorful paintings are hung on a freestanding gallery wall. The work at the center of the wall is a circular painting matted in a rectangular frame. Two paintings hang to the left and right of this work, one painting on each side hung slightly higher, the painting below hung slightly lower.

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023

Gallery view of two walls meeting at an angle. On the left wall are six very small, colorful, and detailed paintings in frames. On the right wall are six paintings of similar size hung in two groups of three. The grouping to the left are all yellowish in hue, while the grouping to the right are black-and-white.

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023

A straight-on view of a gallery wall with an archway in the middle of the frame. To the left of the archway hang two small, detailed blue paintings in silver frames. To the right of the archway are three slightly larger and more colorful paintings that are similarly detailed, and also framed.

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023

Two gallery walls meet at an angle. There are three small, framed, colorful paintings on the left wall. On the right, back wall are two groupings of three small drawings. The grouping to the left are all yellowish in hue, while the grouping to the right are black-and-white.

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023

Two gallery views meet at an angle. On the left wall are four small, detailed framed paintings of coastal vistas. Three of these are monotone, the fourth is colorful. On the right wall are five small framed paintings. A slightly larger landscape-oriented work is hung slightly further to the left. The paintings to the right are all oriented portrait-style.

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023

Two gallery walls meet at an angle. On the far edge of the left wall is a small framed monochrome drawing. On the right wall are hung twelve small framed works. The eight to the left are colorful, detailed paintings, the last four are similarly detailed, though monotone, drawings.

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023

Eight framed paintings are hung variously on a freestanding gallery wall. All of the works are small and similar in size; they are all also colorful and very detailed.

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023

Two gallery walls meet at an angle. On the left wall are five small, detailed framed paintings of coastal vistas. Three of these are monotone, two are colorful. On the right wall hang twelve small framed works. The eight to the left are colorful paintings, the last four are monotone drawings; all are very detailed.

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023

Gallery view at an angle. On the left is a vitrine. To the right is a freestanding wall with eight small framed paintings hung in an arrangement at various heights. On the far wall in the distance are three small blue framed paintings to the left of a brick archway.

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023

Gallery view at an angle. On the left is a vitrine. To the right is a freestanding wall with eight small framed paintings hung in an arrangement at various heights. On the left wall in the background hang two small blue framed paintings. On the right wall in the background are eight framed paintings, also of a similar small size.

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023

An overhead view of a vitrine filled with ephemera including early illustrations by the artist, all of which are extremely detailed and black-and-white, reference images culled from both art history and from gay magazines, as well as several photographs of the artist.

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023

A close-up view of a vitrine, which holds two copies of a contemporary photograph of a naked man in the ocean facing away from the camera with his hands clasped behind his head. Layered behind these photographs is a black-and-white illustration of a group of naked men with swords swinging in their arms above their heads.

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023

A close-up view of a vitrine, which holds a drawing done in a spiral-bound notebook. The drawing incorporates text, which reads “A ZOO AT 70.” An ad for a male masseuse cut from a magazine is visible behind this drawing.

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023

A close-up view of two black-and-white illustrations in a vitrine. The illustration on the left is of a satyr holding a pan flute with a young boy on his lap. The illustration on the right is of a woman in repose, dressed in clothing with ornate patterns.

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023

A close-up view of a faded color photograph in a small gold frame. The photograph is of a boy in a plaid shirt sitting in a field.

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023

A close-up view of a vitrine. To the left is an ornate black-and-white drawing of a woman in repose, dressed in elaborately patterned clothing. On the right is a photograph of a man in a blue shirt.

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023

An image of a small framed painting. The painting depicts a horned satyr holding a pan flute with a small boy on his lap. The pair sit atop a stump, and moss from the stump creeps up and over the satyr and onto the leg of the boy. The image has an ornately-patterned border.

Philip Van Aver, Sacred Grove, 1994, gouache and ink, 9 3/8 × 7 in.

An image of a small painting in a simple silver frame. The cool-toned painting is of a winged four-legged creature with the head of a man, who crouches atop a carved plinth surrounded by white lilies. The image has an ornately-patterned border.

Philip Van Aver, Night in the Lily Garden, 2014, gouache and ink, 6 7/8 × 7 7/8 in.

An image of a small painting matted in a gilded wooden frame. The elaborately-bordered painting shows the back of a naked man emerging from the water with a chain necklace dangling from his hands, clasped behind his head. In the distance are rocks protruding from the water and a green mountain.

Philip Van Aver, Beautiful Bather, 2017, gouache and ink, 5 1/4 × 3 3/4 in.

Press Release

White Columns is pleased to present Paintings, Drawings and Miniatures, 1978 – 2021, a survey of works by the New York-based artist Philip Van Aver (b. 1939.) The exhibition has been organized by the artist Jack Pierson, a long-time supporter of Van Aver’s work, in collaboration with White Columns, and includes more than forty individual works and a vitrine featuring printed ephemera, documentation of earlier works, and research materials drawn from the artist’s extensive archives. The exhibition is the most comprehensive presentation of Van Aver’s work since his 2009 exhibition at D’Amelio Terras, New York.

Philip Van Aver began his career in the early 1960s when he was part of San Francisco’s artistic and literary milieu. He had his first solo exhibition at the William Sabersky Gallery in Los Angeles in 1962. For over six decades he has worked almost exclusively on his signature small-format gouache and ink paintings on paper. The press release for his 2009 exhibition at D’Amelio Terras succinctly described his approach: “Van Aver creates detailed images of Baroque figures, decorative objects, flowers and plants enclosed in vibrant, coloristic borders. The compositions borrow formal ideas of recurring figures and spatial relations from Surrealism yet there is no attempt to depict light or depth. Pure perspective and real objects are drawn together in a straight-forward harmony which Van Aver says is influenced by the direct imagery of traditional folk music, but like The Child Ballads there is often an evocative undertone of menace or violence.”

A long-time collector of vintage postcards and toys, Van Aver’s aligned interests in the vernacular and the art historical result in images of often astounding visual and referential density. About his work Van Aver has said: “Ever since I was a child I have been drawn to small-scale objects and miniatures. Because I have always had this preoccupation, at some point I decided to incorporate this obsession into my artwork. Since Surrealism and other modern art movements tend to elevate the obsessional, I do not avoid this compulsion. Though I utilize traditional landscape, still life and figurative subjects, I inject these preoccupations into my depictions. In an attempt to create a fusion of visual ideas relevant to the subject matter, I am employing elements derived from classical antiquity, postcards, many kinds of decorative art, fashion and botanical prints, the movies of Luchino Visconti, old engravings and erotic material.”

Van Aver has long been involved in community organizing on the Lower East Side, where he has lived in the same apartment since 1969. (Prior to this he lived in an apartment on Horatio Street, a short walk from White Columns’ present location.) Imagery drawn from New York City’s queer histories are integrated into his compositions: many of his “models” were culled from the ads section of HX magazine, a now-defunct publication that circulated in the city’s gay bars throughout the 1990s and early aughts. The changing landscape of the city itself provides a broader context for the images of ruins that recur throughout his work, scenes in which desire and decay coalesce: for example, Love in the Ruins, 2015, inserts a portrait image of a young man drawn from a massage parlor advertisement into a scene of crumbling buildings framed by ornately-carved stone. The resulting image – like much of Van Aver’s work – is at once wistful, tender, and melancholic.

 

 

Philip Van Aver’s work has been held in the collections of the San Diego Museum of Modern Art; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others. As an illustrator his work has appeared in many publications including New York Magazine, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and The New York Times. Most recently, his work was included in the 2022 group exhibition Catechism at Bridget Donahue, New York, NY, and his work was the subject of a solo exhibition at D’Amelio Terras, New York, in 2009. In 2019 Artforum published a portfolio of Van Aver’s work accompanied by a text by Alex Jovanovich. He has been an active member of the Coalition for District Alternative (CoDA); the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative; and the Metropolitan Postcard Collectors Club.

 

For further information about this exhibition contact: violet@whitecolumns.org

 

Gallery hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 11am to 6pm.

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Gallery view at an angle. Nearest to the viewer is a freestanding wall on which hang five small, detailed and colorful framed works. The largest work, hung in the center, is a circular painting matted in a square frame. It is flanked on both sides by two paintings hung one above the other. Twelve more works can be seen on the far walls.
Five small, detailed, colorful paintings are hung on a freestanding gallery wall. The work at the center of the wall is a circular painting matted in a rectangular frame. Two paintings hang to the left and right of this work, one painting on each side hung slightly higher, the painting below hung slightly lower.
Gallery view of two walls meeting at an angle. On the left wall are six very small, colorful, and detailed paintings in frames. On the right wall are six paintings of similar size hung in two groups of three. The grouping to the left are all yellowish in hue, while the grouping to the right are black-and-white.
A straight-on view of a gallery wall with an archway in the middle of the frame. To the left of the archway hang two small, detailed blue paintings in silver frames. To the right of the archway are three slightly larger and more colorful paintings that are similarly detailed, and also framed.
Two gallery walls meet at an angle. There are three small, framed, colorful paintings on the left wall. On the right, back wall are two groupings of three small drawings. The grouping to the left are all yellowish in hue, while the grouping to the right are black-and-white.
Two gallery views meet at an angle. On the left wall are four small, detailed framed paintings of coastal vistas. Three of these are monotone, the fourth is colorful. On the right wall are five small framed paintings. A slightly larger landscape-oriented work is hung slightly further to the left. The paintings to the right are all oriented portrait-style.
Two gallery walls meet at an angle. On the far edge of the left wall is a small framed monochrome drawing. On the right wall are hung twelve small framed works. The eight to the left are colorful, detailed paintings, the last four are similarly detailed, though monotone, drawings.
Eight framed paintings are hung variously on a freestanding gallery wall. All of the works are small and similar in size; they are all also colorful and very detailed.
Two gallery walls meet at an angle. On the left wall are five small, detailed framed paintings of coastal vistas. Three of these are monotone, two are colorful. On the right wall hang twelve small framed works. The eight to the left are colorful paintings, the last four are monotone drawings; all are very detailed.
Gallery view at an angle. On the left is a vitrine. To the right is a freestanding wall with eight small framed paintings hung in an arrangement at various heights. On the far wall in the distance are three small blue framed paintings to the left of a brick archway.
Gallery view at an angle. On the left is a vitrine. To the right is a freestanding wall with eight small framed paintings hung in an arrangement at various heights. On the left wall in the background hang two small blue framed paintings. On the right wall in the background are eight framed paintings, also of a similar small size.
An overhead view of a vitrine filled with ephemera including early illustrations by the artist, all of which are extremely detailed and black-and-white, reference images culled from both art history and from gay magazines, as well as several photographs of the artist.
A close-up view of a vitrine, which holds two copies of a contemporary photograph of a naked man in the ocean facing away from the camera with his hands clasped behind his head. Layered behind these photographs is a black-and-white illustration of a group of naked men with swords swinging in their arms above their heads.
A close-up view of a vitrine, which holds a drawing done in a spiral-bound notebook. The drawing incorporates text, which reads “A ZOO AT 70.” An ad for a male masseuse cut from a magazine is visible behind this drawing.
A close-up view of two black-and-white illustrations in a vitrine. The illustration on the left is of a satyr holding a pan flute with a young boy on his lap. The illustration on the right is of a woman in repose, dressed in clothing with ornate patterns.
A close-up view of a faded color photograph in a small gold frame. The photograph is of a boy in a plaid shirt sitting in a field.
A close-up view of a vitrine. To the left is an ornate black-and-white drawing of a woman in repose, dressed in elaborately patterned clothing. On the right is a photograph of a man in a blue shirt.
An image of a small framed painting. The painting depicts a horned satyr holding a pan flute with a small boy on his lap. The pair sit atop a stump, and moss from the stump creeps up and over the satyr and onto the leg of the boy. The image has an ornately-patterned border.
An image of a small painting in a simple silver frame. The cool-toned painting is of a winged four-legged creature with the head of a man, who crouches atop a carved plinth surrounded by white lilies. The image has an ornately-patterned border.
An image of a small painting matted in a gilded wooden frame. The elaborately-bordered painting shows the back of a naked man emerging from the water with a chain necklace dangling from his hands, clasped behind his head. In the distance are rocks protruding from the water and a green mountain.

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023 (Gallery view at an angle. Nearest to the viewer is a freestanding wall on which hang five small, detailed and colorful framed works. The largest work, hung in the center, is a circular painting matted in a square frame. It is flanked on both sides by two paintings hung one above the other. Twelve more works can be seen on the far walls.)

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023 (Five small, detailed, colorful paintings are hung on a freestanding gallery wall. The work at the center of the wall is a circular painting matted in a rectangular frame. Two paintings hang to the left and right of this work, one painting on each side hung slightly higher, the painting below hung slightly lower.)

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023 (Gallery view of two walls meeting at an angle. On the left wall are six very small, colorful, and detailed paintings in frames. On the right wall are six paintings of similar size hung in two groups of three. The grouping to the left are all yellowish in hue, while the grouping to the right are black-and-white.)

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023 (A straight-on view of a gallery wall with an archway in the middle of the frame. To the left of the archway hang two small, detailed blue paintings in silver frames. To the right of the archway are three slightly larger and more colorful paintings that are similarly detailed, and also framed.)

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023 (Two gallery walls meet at an angle. There are three small, framed, colorful paintings on the left wall. On the right, back wall are two groupings of three small drawings. The grouping to the left are all yellowish in hue, while the grouping to the right are black-and-white.)

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023 (Two gallery views meet at an angle. On the left wall are four small, detailed framed paintings of coastal vistas. Three of these are monotone, the fourth is colorful. On the right wall are five small framed paintings. A slightly larger landscape-oriented work is hung slightly further to the left. The paintings to the right are all oriented portrait-style.)

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023 (Two gallery walls meet at an angle. On the far edge of the left wall is a small framed monochrome drawing. On the right wall are hung twelve small framed works. The eight to the left are colorful, detailed paintings, the last four are similarly detailed, though monotone, drawings.)

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023 (Eight framed paintings are hung variously on a freestanding gallery wall. All of the works are small and similar in size; they are all also colorful and very detailed.)

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023 (Two gallery walls meet at an angle. On the left wall are five small, detailed framed paintings of coastal vistas. Three of these are monotone, two are colorful. On the right wall hang twelve small framed works. The eight to the left are colorful paintings, the last four are monotone drawings; all are very detailed.)

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023 (Gallery view at an angle. On the left is a vitrine. To the right is a freestanding wall with eight small framed paintings hung in an arrangement at various heights. On the far wall in the distance are three small blue framed paintings to the left of a brick archway.)

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023 (Gallery view at an angle. On the left is a vitrine. To the right is a freestanding wall with eight small framed paintings hung in an arrangement at various heights. On the left wall in the background hang two small blue framed paintings. On the right wall in the background are eight framed paintings, also of a similar small size.)

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023 (An overhead view of a vitrine filled with ephemera including early illustrations by the artist, all of which are extremely detailed and black-and-white, reference images culled from both art history and from gay magazines, as well as several photographs of the artist.)

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023 (A close-up view of a vitrine, which holds two copies of a contemporary photograph of a naked man in the ocean facing away from the camera with his hands clasped behind his head. Layered behind these photographs is a black-and-white illustration of a group of naked men with swords swinging in their arms above their heads.)

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023 (A close-up view of a vitrine, which holds a drawing done in a spiral-bound notebook. The drawing incorporates text, which reads “A ZOO AT 70.” An ad for a male masseuse cut from a magazine is visible behind this drawing.)

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023 (A close-up view of two black-and-white illustrations in a vitrine. The illustration on the left is of a satyr holding a pan flute with a young boy on his lap. The illustration on the right is of a woman in repose, dressed in clothing with ornate patterns.)

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023 (A close-up view of a faded color photograph in a small gold frame. The photograph is of a boy in a plaid shirt sitting in a field.)

Philip Van Aver, installation view, 2023 (A close-up view of a vitrine. To the left is an ornate black-and-white drawing of a woman in repose, dressed in elaborately patterned clothing. On the right is a photograph of a man in a blue shirt.)

Philip Van Aver, Sacred Grove, 1994, gouache and ink, 9 3/8 × 7 in. (An image of a small framed painting. The painting depicts a horned satyr holding a pan flute with a small boy on his lap. The pair sit atop a stump, and moss from the stump creeps up and over the satyr and onto the leg of the boy. The image has an ornately-patterned border.)

Philip Van Aver, Night in the Lily Garden, 2014, gouache and ink, 6 7/8 × 7 7/8 in. (An image of a small painting in a simple silver frame. The cool-toned painting is of a winged four-legged creature with the head of a man, who crouches atop a carved plinth surrounded by white lilies. The image has an ornately-patterned border.)

Philip Van Aver, Beautiful Bather, 2017, gouache and ink, 5 1/4 × 3 3/4 in. (An image of a small painting matted in a gilded wooden frame. The elaborately-bordered painting shows the back of a naked man emerging from the water with a chain necklace dangling from his hands, clasped behind his head. In the distance are rocks protruding from the water and a green mountain.)