Liam Neff

Last Evenings on Earth

September 18th – October 24th, 2021

Le Maximum is thrilled to present Last Evenings on Earth, an exhibition of new paintings by Liam Neff. This is Neff’s first solo presentation with the gallery. The exhibition will open on Saturday, September 18th, and will run until Sunday, October 24th, 2021. A reception for the artist will be held at the gallery Saturday, September 18th from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.

Neff’s richly detailed paintings evoke objects and places that are both publicly experienced and intensely private. Tea kettles and remote controls suggest patterns of habit and touch, while a playground sculpture, a brick veil facade, or a home speckled with holiday decoration illuminate a built environment in flux. Though largely devoid of figures they are charged with affect; an absence of people draws us closer to shapes and surfaces, creating a heightened sense of intimacy.

Painted from smartphone pictures taken in Los Angeles and New York during the past eighteen months, these gemlike works are imbued with a subtle topicality. They go beyond their source images in detail and texture as if to question our ways of seeing and knowing. In uncertain times they maintain a sense of candor and vulnerability, challenging us to look again at the spaces being made and unmade around us. 

Le Maximum is open Friday 3 - 9 pm, Saturday and Sunday 1–6 pm, and by appointment. To inquire please contact art@lemaximumvenice.com.

shy rabbit 69, 2021. Oil on canvas, 10 x 8 inches. Inquire.

Frog Town Rattler, 2021. Oil on canvas, 18 x 10 inches. Inquire.

Blue Horizon, 2021. Oil on canvas, 13 x 11 inches. Inquire.

Domino, 2020. Oil on canvas, 10 x 14 inches. Inquire.

L’amour Braque, 2021. Oil on canvas, 6 x 12 inches. Inquire.

Murdering the Dead, 2021. Oil on canvas, 8 x 11 inches. Inquire.

Curfew, 2020. Oil on canvas, 13 x 10 inches. Inquire.

Night Kitchen, 2021. Oil on canvas, 8 x 11 inches. Inquire.

Freeway, 2021. Oil on canvas, 10 x14 inches. Inquire.

Atlantica, 2020. Oil on canvas, 14 x 13 inches. Inquire.

Last Day on Earth, 2021. Oil on canvas, 10 x 15 inches. Inquire.

Frogtown Xmas, 2021. Oil on canvas, 9 x 11 inches. Inquire.

Kettle, 2020. Oil on canvas, 13 x 10 inches. Inquire.

Tibidabo, 2020. Oil on canvas, 15 x 10 inches. Inquire.

Documentation by Brica Wilcox