Exhibitions

Fahrenheit Madrid is pleased to present an exhibition of recent works by two New York–based artists, Jennifer Macdonald and Janis Provisor, opening on February 26, 2025.

Both Janis Provisor’s large-scale paintings on canvas and Jennifer Macdonald’s bronze sculptures share a number of affinities, particularly in their tactile surfaces, sense of humor, and the subtle unease they evoke.

Despite differences in materials and techniques, both artists develop unique creative processes marked by improvisation and a palpable spontaneity that establishes an emotional connection with the viewer. Their idiosyncratic approaches are characterized by a natural mode of working and expressive mark-making, linking their works on a psychological level. The risk and reward inherent in their artistic practices are evident in the traces of direct thought and action that remain visible in the finished works. Provisor’s paintings and Macdonald’s sculptures invite viewers to engage with pieces that seem to take on a life of their own, projecting a presence that “responds” to those who observe them.

A diffuse sense of time runs through these works. Macdonald’s sculptures evoke a simultaneous temporality—both ancient and ephemeral—resembling a kind of “contemporary natural manifestation.” Provisor’s paintings, by contrast, convey a unique immediacy, almost like an “eternal present,” where layers of writing and previous marks emerge from the surface as echoes of a recent past.

Provisor begins each painting with handwritten notes in a stream-of-consciousness flow, which are then covered with watercolor and water-soluble oil paints. Both saturated and softer colors are applied over dark grounds, giving her works a nocturnal atmosphere. The paint flows freely across the canvas, while the artist maintains control over the overall gestalt: an improvisation that, despite its fluidity, retains formal balance in composition. Opposing forces, visual ruptures, unstable spatial dynamics, and movement shape the work, inviting multiple interpretations without imposing fixed meanings.

Macdonald, meanwhile, works with wax and other materials to create fragile collages that, through the lost-wax casting process, are transformed into unique bronze sculptures. She begins by combining waxes of different hardness, imprinting textures and rhythmic patterns, then carving, shaping, bending, and melting the material until a vibrant form emerges. Without preparatory sketches or models, each piece develops spontaneously, allowing the materials to determine their own course. This freedom of process results in unexpected forms that suggest armor, architectural fragments, or animal figures, whose interiors are partially revealed, exposing their complexity despite the rigidity and historical weight of bronze.

Taken together, the works of Macdonald and Provisor offer a visually captivating and deeply evocative experience, challenging the viewer to reconsider the boundaries between the tangible and the intangible, the ancient and the contemporary, the structured and the spontaneous.

Jennifer Macdonald was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She received her MFA in Painting from CUNY Hunter College, New York City, her BFA from the University of Pennsylvania, and a certificate in Sculpture from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. She also attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. Her solo exhibitions include Underdonk Gallery, New York; Sala Projects, New York; and Vox Populi Gallery, Philadelphia. Selected group exhibitions include Underdonk Gallery, New York; Nathalie Karg Gallery, New York; White Rock Center for Sculptural Arts, Holmes, NY; Platform Project Space, New York; Essex Flowers, New York; Ladies’ Room, Los Angeles; Allentown Art Museum, Pennsylvania; The Drawing Center, New York; Anthology Film Archives, New York; Ewing Gallery, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Wendy Cooper Gallery, Chicago; Philadelphia Museum of Art; ICA Philadelphia; Gallery Joe, Philadelphia; and Arcadia University Gallery, Glenside, Pennsylvania.

Janis Provisor was born in Brooklyn, New York, and divides her time between New York City and Litchfield, Connecticut. She received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Her solo exhibitions include Halsey McKay Gallery, Long Island; Barbara Toll, New York; Dorothy Goldeen Gallery, Santa Monica; Aspen Art Museum; Holly Solomon Gallery, New York; Reed College, Portland; University of California, Berkeley; and the New Orleans Museum of Art. Her group exhibitions include Crown Point Press, San Francisco; New Museum, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan; Tucson Museum of Art; Aspen Art Museum; Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art; MoMA PS1; Brooklyn Museum; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Provisor’s work is included in numerous public collections, including the Ludwig Museum, Aachen; University Art Museum, Berkeley; Oakland Museum of California; Brooklyn Museum of Art; Yale University Art Gallery; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; MUMOK, Vienna; RISD Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the Minneapolis Institute of Art, among others.