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MAGALIE GUÉRIN

A HAND A HAND 9.10–10.24.26

MAGALIE GUÉRIN

A HAND A HAND 9.10–10.24.26

The title of the exhibition, a hand a hand, is derived from Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons, a text in which language becomes object-like: tactile, cadenced, and stubbornly physical. Words are handled rather than explained. They are turned over, repeated, nudged into new relationships. Meaning arrives sideways. Like Stein’s writing, Guérin’s work opens a space where recognition is slippery. For Guérin, making is a process of discovery rather than description. Though developed through different processes and materials, the two bodies of work share a common language and an ongoing dialogue. The paintings evolve through a sequence of revisions, hesitations, and returns, while her sculptures take shape through stacking, balancing, and improvisation. Areas of rich color, raised edges, palpable textures, and amorphous shapes reappear throughout both mediums, as though testing their possibilities through different states of being. In one of the largest paintings Guérin has done to date, we witness an ongoing negotiation between figure and ground. Swaths of tea green set the stage for a chartreuse limb-like form that inserts itself into a tectonic, striated field. In one of the ceramic sculptures, a black and white gridded form suggests a fishtail, or a quotation mark balancing playfully, threatening to swoop down. In both mediums, the artist’s hand reveals itself through scribbles, scrapes and impastoed surfaces. The works in a hand a hand resist definitive interpretation while remaining insistently present. They gather associations and visual rhymes, and propose that we navigate by intuition, memory, and sensation. Across painting and sculpture, Guérin’s works are segmented yet remain surprisingly resolved. In 2023, John Yau wrote “Guérin depicts a world of gravity and space occupied by shapes that are both specific and unknown.” This assertive ambiguity is foundational to the work of Magalie Guérin, and it asks us to consider alternatives to naming what we see, in her work and beyond.

Magalie Guérin (b. Montreal, 1973) is an artist based in Marfa, TX. She holds an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, where she resided for over a decade. Her work has been exhibited internationally including solo exhibitions at the Esker Foundation in Calgary (AB), Sikkema Jenkins & Co (NY), Corbett vs. Dempsey (Chicago), Galerie Nicolas Robert (Montreal), and Amanda Wilkinson (London), amongst others. Notable group exhibitions include Abstraction, Continued at the Speed Art Museum, ICAF at the Gardiner Museum, 50 Paintings at the Milwaukee Art Museum, Master Class at Secrist Beach (Chicago), and With a Capital P: Selections by Six Painters at Elmhurst Museum. Her work is in the collections of Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Speed Art Museum, DePaul Art Museum, Hydro-Québec, and the Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec. She is the author of NOTES ON, a compilation of studio writings published by The Green Lantern Press in 2016 (second edition 2019) and teaches at SAIC and College of DuPage. Guérin is the recipient of two Pollock-Krasner grants (2024, 2018), a Pace Award for a mid-career painter at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown (2019) and a Chinati Foundation residency (2018). She is represented by Corbett vs. Dempsey in Chicago, Sikkema Malloy Jenkins in New York, and Galerie Nicolas Robert in Montreal.

Untitled, 2026 Glazed ceramic 15 1/4 × 6 1/4 × 10 1/2 inches (38.7 × 15.9 × 26.7 cm)

Untitled (Édouard), 2026 Oil on canvas 60 x 48 inches (152.4 x 121.9 cm)

Untitled, 2026 Oil on canvas on panel 30 × 24 inches (76.2 × 61 cm)

Untitled, 2026 Glazed ceramic 16 × 8 × 9 inches (40.6 × 20.3 × 22.9 cm)

Untitled, 2026 Oil on canvas 45 x 36 inches (114.3 x 91.4 cm)

Untitled, 2026 Oil on canvas on panel 20 x 16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cm)

Untitled, 2026 Oil on canvas 60 x 48 inches (152.4 x 121.9 cm)

Untitled, 2026 Glazed ceramic 17 × 5 1/4 × 12 1/2 inches (43.2 × 13.3 × 31.8 cm)

Untitled (Betty), 2026 Oil on canvas 45 x 36 inches (114.3 x 91.4 cm)

Untitled, 2026 Oil on canvas 45 x 36 inches (114.3 x 91.4 cm)

Untitled, 2026 Glazed ceramic 11 1/2 × 11 × 12 inches (29.2 × 27.9 × 30.5 cm)

Untitled, 2026 Glazed ceramic 16 3/4 × 7 × 12 inches (42.5 × 17.8 × 30.5 cm)

Untitled, 2026 Oil on canvas on panel 20 x 16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cm)

Untitled (Pierre), 2026 Oil on canvas 45 x 36 inches (114.3 x 91.4 cm)

Untitled, 2025 Oil on canvas on panel 30 × 24 inches (76.2 × 61 cm)

Untitled, 2026 Oil on canvas on panel 30 × 24 inches (76.2 × 61 cm)

Untitled, 2026 Glazed ceramic 15 × 8 × 6 inches (38.1 × 20.3 × 15.2 cm)

MAGALIE GUÉRIN Born in 1973, Montréal, Canada Lives and works in Marfa, TX EDUCATION 2011 MFA, Painting, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2026 a hand a hand, Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, New York, NY, September 10–October 24, 2026 Orange to Rattle, Esker Foundation, Calgary, Canada, January 23–April 26, 2026 2025 Shape Acts, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, IL, November 6, 2025–January 3, 2026 2024 Violet, Rift, Galerie Nicolas Robert, Toronto, Canada, October 24–November 23, 2024 2023 some mondegreens, Sikkema Jenkins & Co, New York, NY, June 8–July 28, 2023 2022 The Eaters, Marfa Book Company, Marfa, TX hard green, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, IL, June 10–August 6, 2022 2020 A Bow Down, Galerie Nicolas Robert, Montréal, Canada, November 28, 2020–January 16, 2021 Magalie Guérin: q p, Amanda Wilkinson Gallery, London, United Kingdom, July 1–August 8, 2020 The Big Dig: Magalie Guérin, The Lekeitio Drawings, Corbett vs. Dempsey (Virtual) 2019 Magalie Guérin & Philippe Caron Lefebvre, Galerie Nicolas Robert, Montréal, Canada, May 25–June 29, 2019

SOLUTE, Chapter NY, New York, NY, February 17–March 24, 2019 2018 The Marfa Paintings, James Harris Gallery, Seattle, WA, October 14–November 30, 2018 Morgenspaziergang, Schwarz Contemporary, Berlin, Germany, June 29–July 28, 2018 bunker, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, IL, January 26–March 10, 2018 2017 No Body Knows, Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA, April 22–May 27, 2017 2016 Magalie Guérin, soon.tw, Montréal, Canada, October 12–November 12, 2016 Copy Drawings, Sector 2337, Chicago, IL, March 25–May 15, 2016 2015 Lyles & King, New York, NY, September 4– October 4, 2015 Magalie Guérin & Ross Normandin, Roots & Culture, Chicago, IL, April 24–May 23, 2015 2014 The Suburban, Oak Park, IL, December 2014 re, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, IL, September 5–October 11, 2014 2013 Magalie Guérin: Paintings 2009-2013, Knox College Gallery, Galesburg, IL 2012 The Warmest Guest, Autumn Space, Chicago, IL, February 18–March 10, 2012 2010 The Cracks of the Game, Autumn Space, Chicago, IL, October 9–23, 2010 2006 Unrequited, Miller Block Gallery, Boston, MA, September 9–October 17, 2006 2004 The Devil In Me, GV/AS Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2026 International Ceramic Art Fair 2026, Gardiner Museum, Toronto, Canada, May 28– August 3, 2026 Abstraction, Continued: Recent Paintings from the Speed Art Museum Collection, Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY, May 16– August 30, 2026 2025 Master Class: Inside the Last American Museum School with SAIC Painting Alumni, SECRIST | BEACH, Chicago, IL, April 19– June 21, 2025 Linework, Ivory Gate Gallery, Chicago, IL, March 8–April 5, 2025, curated by Michelle Grabner Difficulty is cheerfully accepted, Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, New York, NY, February 21–April 5, 2025 2024 Nothing Is: Sun Ra and Others’ Covers, JUBG Space, Cologne, Germany, November 6–December 14, 2024; Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, IL, January 24–March 1, 2025 Hupcap Diamond Star Halo, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, IL, September 14– November 2, 2024 Abstraction, Galerie Nicolas Robert, Toronto, Canada, July 27–August 31, 2024 Chapitre III — Exposition inaugurale, Galerie Nicolas Robert, Montréal, Canada, April 4–May 25, 2024 2023 50 Paintings, Milwaukee Museum of Art, Milwaukee, WI, November 17, 2023–June 23, 2024, co-curated by Margaret Andera and Michelle Grabner Friendship’s Death, Andrew Rafacz, Chicago, IL, June 2–July 15, 2023

2022 Summer School of Painting, Ox-Bow School of Art, Saugatuck, MI, June 10–September 2, 2022 A Rhythm, Not a Plot, Galerie Nicolas Robert, Toronto, Canada, January 13–February 19, 2022 2021 Peep Show, Anton Kern WINDOW, New York, NY, September 8–October 31, 2021 2020 Cosmic Meteorites & Other Burners, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, IL, July 17–August 22, 2020 2019 Body/Object, George Adams Gallery, New York, NY, July 11–August 23, 2019 Small Painting, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, IL, June 28–August 17, 2019 With a Capital P: Selections by Six Painters, Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL, July 11–August 23, 2019 2018 Local Comfort, LVL3 Gallery, Chicago, IL, September 22–November 4, 2018 Got a light?, The Suburban, Milwaukee, WI, curated by Assaf Evron 2017 American Genre: Contemporary Painting, Institute of Contemporary Art at MECAD, Portland, ME, July 20–September 15, 2017, curated by Michelle Grabner Stranger Things, DePaul Art Museum, Chicago, IL, June 21–August 6, 2017 2016 New American Paintings: Midwest Edition, Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL, May 16–August 23, 2015 Known Unknowns: Painting in Chicago, Cleve Carney Museum of Art, College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL, June 2–July 29, 2016

Cabinet in the Mirror, Nicelle Beauchene, New York, NY, March 17–April 17, 2016 IMAGINE, Brand New Gallery, Milan, Italy, March 2–April 2, 2016 2015 Found/Made: 2015 Studio Art Faculty Exhibit, Cleve Carney Museum of Art, College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL, December 3, 2015–January 23, 2016 The Suburban Milwaukee: 16 Years, Mount Airy Contemporary, Philadelphia, PA, October 3–31, 2015 Other Planes of There, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, IL, July 18–August 29, 2015 Abstraction: A Visual Language, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, IL, June 12–July 31, 2015 All In, Riverside Arts Center, Riverside, IL, January 25–February 21, 2015 2014 Making Space, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL, April 4–May 3, 2014, curated by Susanne Doremus 2013 Slow Read, Glass Curtain Gallery, Chicago, IL, September 3–November 2, 2013 Surface, Judith Racht Gallery, Harbert, MI Reading Room, Julius Caesar, Chicago, IL, May 5–26, 2013, organized by Sean Ward 2012 The Question of their Content, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL, February 3–March 17, 2012 2011 Performa 11, a project by Philip von Zweck with Invisible-Exports, New York, NY, November 11–13, 2011 Cloud Gate, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY, November 10, 2011–January 7, 2012 Reduction or Something Less, with Matt Nichols and Conor Backman, LVL3, Chicago, IL, September 24–October 23, 2011

Irritable Abstraction, Julius Caesar, Chicago, IL, April 3–24, 2011, curated by Susanne Doremus 2010 The Great Poor Farm Experiment II (year-long installation, collaboration with Sean Ward), Poor Farm, Manawa, WI 2009 Fuckheads, SCA Contemporary Art, Albuquerque, NM, curated by Angela Dufresne 2007 Just a Ghostly Paper Sigh, 31Grand, New York, NY No New Tale To Tell, 31Grand, New York, NY Nature/Nurture, Miller Block Gallery, Boston, MA, July 3–August 18, 2007 2006 Other worlds, 31Grand, Brooklyn, NY Love Will Tear Us Apart, The National Arts Club, New York, NY, June 13–25, 2006 Unless: An Exhibition of Artists Concerned About Our Environment, Miller Block Gallery, Boston, MA, June 15–July 29, 2006 Deluge, Bucheon Gallery, San Francisco, CA, May 12–June 18, 2006 2005 Something is Somewhere, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY, June 2–July 29, 2005 2004 I’ve Met Someone Else, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY, September 9–October 16, 2004

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA Collection Hydro-Québec, Québec, Canada Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Québec, Canada DePaul Art Museum, Chicago, IL Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY The Art Museum of West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV