Hexton artists Evan Hecox, Shepard Fairey, and Tony Fitzpatrick are featured in The Painted Word: Text, Gesture, and Expression in Contemporary Art, presented at Lehman College Art Gallery at the City University of New York.
Bringing together contemporary artists whose practices engage language, symbolism, and image making, the exhibition explores the ways text can move beyond direct communication toward gesture, expression, and visual form. Across painting, collage, quilting, and mixed media, words shift between meaning and abstraction, functioning simultaneously as language, structure, and image.
Evan Hecox, Diagram of a Diagram, 2025
Acrylic and collage on panel
30 x 56 in
The exhibition places works by Hecox, Fairey, and Fitzpatrick alongside artists including Mel Bochner, Jeffrey Gibson, Glenn Ligon, and Nari Ward, tracing varied approaches to text within contemporary art.
Tony Fitzpatrick, A Thousand Beautiful Things, 2009
Hand and machine-quilted, dyed satin wedding fabric.
56 x 73 in
The exhibition explores the relationship between form and meaning as artists incorporate written language into contemporary painting and mixed media practices. Across the works presented, text appears through typography, symbolism, repetition, collage, and graphic imagery.
Shepard Fairey, Jesse Nubian, 2020
Acrylic, Stencil and Collage on Canvas
60 x 44 in
The Painted Word: Text, Gesture, and Expression in Contemporary Art is presented at Lehman College Art Gallery from February 11 through May 2, 2026.
