Louis K. Meisel Gallery is pleased to announce Robert Neffson: a Survey, an exhibition of works by the American Photorealist painter showcasing the progression of his style and techniques across various points in his career.

As a native New Yorker, Robert Neffson has always been interested in urban environments. For Neffson, the city as subject offers endless compositions, featuring unscripted moments, layered spatial constructs, and a touch of historical nuance. Connecting with the American Realist tradition, Neffson’s work incorporates the activities of ordinary people, as personal everyday moments are juxtaposed against the public bustle of city life. Through his work, he explores the duality of our physical spaces—be it the tension between personal and public, interior and exterior, or in the physical form versus the reflected.

Neffson began experimenting with the camera and Photorealism in the 1980s. Building on the work of first-generation Photorealists, he developed his own take on the urban landscape. His earliest cityscapes feature pops of color, movement, and pushed-in compositions that emphasize the city’s sharp contrasts and architectural angles. These paintings transport viewers to bustling sunlit city blocks that depict numerous people going about their day. By the early 1990s, Neffson began to use the camera to manipulate his chosen subject; the camera became a tool for collecting visual information that enabled him to construct an alternate reality on the canvas. His compositions, now pulled back, incorporate strong reflections and deeper perspective. By this time, the inclusion of people is purposeful, in that the artist is choosing the people to incorporate within his narrated scenes. All the while, deeply angled windows begin to permit glimpses of interior spaces.

By the early 2000s, Neffson’s signature subject took an abrupt shift for a period, as he began to gravitate towards museum interiors. These works hark back to his collegiate days when he painted the quiet interior of his Boston apartment. Offering intimate moments, the museum paintings are depicted in a wide-angle perspective that allows the viewer to connect with familiar places and experiences.  As with his exterior scenes, architectural lines and windows reign supreme in these works, permitting glimpses of activity of the outside world.

In his most recent series of paintings, the artist uses reflective surfaces to completely blur the lines between interior and exterior spaces. In Lunch, a classic diner scene descends into a kaleidoscopic vision of disorienting lines and shapes to create an Alice-through-the-looking-glass effect. The complex composition casts the viewer both as an active participant and a passive observer of the scene. By contrasting the tranquility of the interior scene with the backdrop of the city-rush, the artist stops time in a busy midtown diner presenting the viewer with a new way of experiencing the everyday surroundings.

Born and raised in Queens, Robert Neffson earned his B.F.A. and M.F.A. from Boston University and spent a year in Rome on Fulbright Scholarship. Neffson’s paintings are in numerous public and private collections and include a recent acquisition by the Asheville Art Museum in 2024.

Robert Neffson: a Survey is on display at 141 Prince Street, New York, NY from February 20th to March 29th. For more information, please contact Louis K. Meisel Gallery at  gallery@meisels.com