Singing In Unison, Part 12: Painting In Space, curated by Michael David, presented by M. David & Co. and Rail Curatorial Projects at Art Cake

This exhibition features works by Al Held, Elizabeth Murray, Judy Pfaff and Frank Stella!

Opening reception: Saturday, October 18, 6-9pm October 18 – December 7, 2025

Hours: Friday & Saturday, 1-6 pm and by appointment

“Three years ago, after a few glasses of wine at dinner, a conversation with Judy Pfaff turned to her close friend and early champion, Al Held. From there, it drifted to another dear friend, Elizabeth Murray, and then to her admiration for Frank Stella. These four—some closer to each other than the rest —were not “singing in unison” at that particular moment in time. Yet they all shared a profound respect for one another’s work, and deep, if sometimes unacknowledged, influences. What united them was the language of geometry, made personal. Their rigor of formal concerns was always present, but each bent geometry to their own ends, carving out space for themselves. Elizabeth, Frank, and Judy literally challenged the rectangle, how far a painting could come off the wall, what it could be made of (a language that Stella had pioneered earlier) and the very definition of what a painting could be. Al, through his unprecedented use of scale, celebrated the intensity of the object and created deep pictorial space, echoing the grandeur of the Italian Renaissance while flirting with a kind of sci-fi vision -- imagery that, in retrospect, seems to anticipate contemporary technologies like AI, yet always remaining rooted in the human touch, through endless sanding and reworking of his works. Almost half a century later, all these four artists' innovations, which have inspired generations of artists, still feel as revolutionary as the day they were created. “

Michael David Painter, Curator (full essay available on our website, link in bio or visit www.mdavidandco.com)