Adam Higgins and John Maclean at Place des Vosges, Paris

In a coordinated gesture Chris Sharp Gallery and The Approach are concurrently presenting two solo exhibitions in the Place des Vosges at 9 Place des Vosges and 10 Place de Vosges, Paris.

Chris Sharp Gallery & Adam Higgins, My Salad Years: La Suite
10 Place des Vosges, 75004 Paris. Preview: Monday October 16, 6–9pm. Exhibition continues until October 23.​ Exhibition opening hours: Tuesday–Saturday 11–7pm, Sunday 12–6pm or by appointment, Monday 11–7pm

Chris Sharp Gallery is pleased to present Adam Higgins—My Salad Years: La Suite hosted in our temporary gallery space at 10 Place des Vosges, Paris.

For this exhibition, Higgins will present a series of salad paintings. Which is to say paintings of salad. Caesar salads to be exact. Caesar salads with croutons, cheese, whole anchovies, raw squid and cubes of ice, not to mention a fly. And, of course, lots and lots of dressing.

The paintings are always views from above, ranging from the classical tondo salad portrait to an “all over” composition strewn across a cutting board of, at times, exceedingly large dimensions. As such, the salads flirt with the conventional idiom of culinary photography and, more broadly, the history of painting. They at once call to mind 17th century Dutch still life and the drip paintings of Jackson Pollock, among other things. At first blush, they may seem to be just salads, but on closer, more sustained review, they are about so much more. Such as painting, and more specifically, abstraction (You want abstraction? I’ll give you salad). Light, the more unnatural the better. Foodie photography. An unexpected, if unsettling and graphic eroticism (Salad porn?). A quality of excess which feels distinctly and uniquely American in its fanatical will to careen toward ‘too much of a good thing’ in the spirit of, say, the wellness-industrial complex. In other words, spiritual redemption. As if salad could save you. And maybe it can? Or maybe paintings of it can? It’s doubtful. Whatever the case may be, these surprising pictures are strangely timely. Even zeitgeist-y. Refreshingly so. In a way you didn’t know you wanted or needed. And in this way, maybe they do come with a touch, or better, a pinch of salvation.

Adam Higgins (b. 1989 Huntington Beach, California; lives and works in Los Angeles.) Recent solo exhibitions include (2022) My Salad Years, Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles, (2022) Lonesome, Tops Gallery, Memphis and (2020) Flatfish, Hunter Shaw Fine Art, Los Angeles. Recent group exhibitions include (2021) The Imaginary Sea (curated by Chris Sharp), Villa Carmignac, Porquerolles, France; (2018) Heads/Tails, Next to Nothing, New York and (2018) Way Out Now, Diane Rosenstein, Los Angeles. The artist earned an MFA from Yale University in 2018 and a BFA from the Memphis College of Art in 2012.

The Approach & John Maclean, New Paintings: Part II
9 Place des Vosges, 75004 Paris. Preview: Monday October 16 6–9pm. Exhibition continues until October 23. Exhibition opening hours:Tuesday–Saturday 11–7pm, Sunday 12–6pm or by appointment, Monday 11–7pm.

The Approach is pleased to present John Maclean—New Paintings: Part II hosted in our temporary gallery space at 9 Place des Vosges, Paris. This presentation will run for one week and coincides with New Paintings: Part I currently on show at The Approach in London.

With a focus on landscape and contemplative outdoor scenes, John Maclean sources his imagery from salvaged, hand-tinted postcards or print-outs from the internet. Although small, these paintings evoke ideas of a larger narrative, where the viewer only experiences a single vignette from a much broader storyline.

Landscapes are an intuitive subject matter for Maclean; growing up in the Scottish Highlands surrounded by dramatic, almost romantic, surroundings, he always had a strong relationship to the natural environment. Landscapes also play a central role in his films: in Slow West, the film Maclean wrote and directed in 2015, and with his forthcoming feature-length project Tornado, the landscape is framed as a protagonist—the same can be said for his paintings, where he foregrounds mountain ranges, trees, rivers, valleys, snow scenes, hills and fields.

John Maclean (b. Perth, Scotland 1972) lives and works in London, UK. Though gaining an education in visual arts, including studying at the Royal College of Art, Maclean took a hiatus from painting to follow his musical career as a founding member of the influential group The Beta Band (1996–2005). He then pursued film directing and only returned to painting during the pandemic, subsequently being offered his first solo show which took place at White Columns in New York in March 2022, followed by his first UK show in The Annexe at The Approach in 2023.