“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” This quote is often attributed, perhaps incorrectly, to Maya Angelou, and it may have been first said by one Carl W. Buehner in a 1971 book of quotes. But regardless of its author — and maybe this is the point of the quote — the statement feels both wise and correct.
I thought about this quote when I visited New York artist Kemar Keanu Wynter’s third solo exhibition at Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, titled Rücken-. As I wrote in a blurb earlier this month, the title references Rückenfigur, or back figure, most famously represented by Caspar David Friedrich’s “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” (c. 1818). Each of Wynter’s paintings is displayed from the back, hung without a frame or canvas, an invitation to join the artist in the fog of memory and reverie.
The titles of the six paintings on display read like poems, and each carries a story of both food and friendship. During a walkthrough with the artist, we stopped by “Lodestar (Hanger Steak and Eggs)” (all works 2024), an acrylic on Evolon fabric work towering over nine feet tall that looks, well, like a slab of hanger steak, with rich textures in the color field that invite a careful examination of every nook and corner.
As Wynter noted in conversation, “Lodestar” is inspired by a long meal at Betty in the Lower East Side with a friend who had just returned from Japan: “We did a full debrief and had breakfast together there and just kept chatting. Before you knew, the evening had rolled in, and we probably spent like a good eight, nine hours there, just chatting.”
I understood the steak and eggs — that was breakfast — but what about the lodestar?
“For me, reciprocity is everything. It’s important for me to be able to be a lodestar for this person in the way that they are for me. You have to be able to be fixtures in each others’ lives.”
As this story illustrates, each work in the show is a reflection of someone in the artist’s chosen family, the sort of person with whom he could share a soulful meal. Wynter tries to translate the feelings of the meal and personal connection into his color field paintings, which read like impressionistic still lifes of New York’s global cuisine.
“The Sun’s Gaze (Marinated Leeks),” which is more than seven feet long and five feet high, features deep amber hues and what look to me like spinachy, leeky greens mashed into place. The painting’s scale lets you dip into its world of color. For this work, Wynter takes inspiration from Nate Cox, a childhood neighbor who once lived a block away. Nate is now a chef at Prima in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, and developed a delicious recipe for marinated leeks. After falling out of touch years ago, they reconnected later in life, realizing they were both doing work around food but in very different ways.
A poem by Wynter in the show’s catalog complements the vibrancy of the painting, recalling a busy day at the restaurant:
My plate lay here emptiedMy fingers tracing its lip to lap up the jammy vestiges
To look up from the ceramic and see you at the helm
A host at your call
[…]
How it sweets me to see you in the sun's gaze
Wynter’s talent lies in blending memory, poetry, food, and friendship into a composition that bespeaks this reverence for deep friendship and chosen family. At the same time, the paintings stand on their own, their textures and colors inviting exploration of each detail. Like the Rückenfigur style that inspire them, they bring us into a sublime that is at once timeless and part of this particular moment of multicultural and multi-culinary New York City.
During our conversation, the artist shared his interest in James Turrell’s Quaker background, “and how much that faith is rooted in finding the divine within the self. I find that the sublime for me exists in this space of that love that I hold for my partners, my friends, my family. In those moments of sharing a dish with someone, it’s hard not to get enveloped in it all. That is the sublime for me, and I try to communicate that back into the paintings.”
Kemar Keanu Wynter: Rücken- continues at Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery (87 Franklin Street, Tribeca, Manhattan) through October 19. The show was organized by the gallery.
