Minimal-Maximal

Hunter Dunbar Projects is pleased to announce Minimal-Maximal, a group exhibition juxtaposing distinct modes of abstraction. The presentation will be on view at Hunter Dunbar Projects in Chelsea from November 6th, 2025 to January 17th, 2026.

Minimalism emerged initially in the 1960s, foregrounding an artwork’s formal elements – line, space, edge, and orderly composition. Adolph Gottlieb and Mark Rothko once described their approach as the “simple expression of a complex thought,” a sentiment that succinctly describes the movement. This seeming simplicity came as a stark contrast to the gestural aesthetic that defined Abstract Expressionism in the decades prior.

Minimal-Maximal traces the vibrant tendencies of non-objective painting from significant mid-century examples, such as Grace Hartigan’s The Tourist (1965)to contemporary works like Joan Snyder’s monumental Women Make Lists (2004). These full, colorful canvases are contrasted by prominent minimal works such as Larry Bell’s Untitled (1967), a glass and metal-bound cube, whose simple geometry engages a visual interplay between light, form, and perspective. The reductive language of Bell finds common ground in contemporary works by the geometric painter and sculptor Jesús Rafael Soto and textile artist Hiroko Takeda. 

Organized by Hayden Dunbar and Benjamin R. Hunter, Minimal-Maximal brings together twentieth century and twenty-first century approaches to abstraction at their most extreme poles – refinement and expression. This presentation includes works by Larry Bell, Lynda Benglis, John Dubrow, Helen Frankenthaler, Grace Hartigan, Minjung Kim, Park Kwang-Jin, Kenneth Noland, Joe Ramirez, Joan Snyder, Jesús Rafael Soto, Frank Stella, Hiroko Takeda, and Joan Witek.