Oliver Lee Jackson’s exhibition A Journey, comprised of a series of towering new steel sculptures is now at on view on the High Line’s Western Rail Yards.

“Oliver Lee Jackson’s creations feel elegant, mysterious, and strangely out of time, attuned to the spirit of the High Line’s Western Rail Yards section,” said Cecilia Alemani, the Donald R. Mullen Director and Chief Curator of High Line Art. “It’s an honor to showcase this chapter in Jackson’s long and storied career, with a series of sculptures that combine his masterful treatment of painting surfaces with the sculptural presence of his commanding forms.”

Since 2020 Jackson has constructed monumental steel sculptures, that draw on smaller-scale works from the late 1990s. Jackson’s works are tightly composed but feel improvisational in approach, as the painted, cut, and pockmarked surfaces animate the sculptures beyond their material properties.

A number of the works on view also continue Jackson’s exploration of a minimal approach to figuration. Untitled III has distilled the human form into a simple collection of narrow planes of steel that evoke a kneeling figure with a bouquet of flowers positioned between her knees. Untitled IV is an assertive figure striding forward, assembled from a combination of steel planes with areas of black and white paint that add to its sense of determined motion. Two distinct head motifs are repeated in Jackson's presentation; topped with a simple red/orange hat, Untitled I features two faces painted with rudimentary, but distinct, expressions on each side. Untitled V is an abstract sculptural interpretation formed from three interlocking steel plates painted in white with blue trim, and eyes, birds, flowers, and other imagery rendered in black on the outward-facing side to further animate the form.

The exhibition, presented with special thanks to Andrew Kreps Gallery, BLUM, and Lisson Gallery, is on view from June through October 2024. Jackson’s sculptures are the first artworks installed in the Western Rail Yards since 2019.

For more information, visit thehighline.org

Date: On view through October 2024

Location: High Line Western Rail Yards, New York, NY 10011