In 2023, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam hosted a monumental exhibition of Johannes Vermeer, showcasing 28 of the 35 masterpieces attributed to the enigmatic Dutch painter. Drawing on his own visit to this historic show, artist Joe Fig created a body of new paintings. In these works, featured in Contemplating Vermeer, Fig not only pays homage to the seventeenth-century painter’s mastery of light, color, and verisimilitude, but also reflects on the aesthetic experience in the Rijksmuseum’s galleries. Expanding on his decade-long Contemplation series, he captures his subjects—artworks and their viewers—and their surroundings, exploring how people engage with or contemplate artworks in public spaces.
Though Fig’s paintings may resemble snapshots of what he observed, they are the result of a layered artistic process involving numerous formal artistic decisions. He begins by studying individual artworks and the viewers who are deeply engrossed in them. He focuses on people’s body language, clothing (particularly colors and patterns), and proximity to the works and each other, as well as the specificities of the space. Fig photographs these moments as source material, then digitally reconfigures the images in his studio—selecting and repositioning figures, adjusting scale, combining different scenes, and fine-tuning lighting and color. The final compositions, meticulously rendered in oil, reflect Fig’s contemplation of the act of looking, both his own and that of others. Each work distills what it means to be a painter.
June 6, 2025 - January 11, 2026
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