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New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

New York, NY: Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Guy Yanai: The Things of Life,’ 21 October - 27 November 2021

Guy Yanai, At The Hospital (Romy Schneider), 2021, Oil on linen, 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 inches, 80 x 60 cm

Guy Yanai, At The Hospital (Romy Schneider), 2021, Oil on linen, 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 inches, 80 x 60 cm

Guy Yanai, Aurora, 2021, Oil on canvas, 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 inches, 80 x 60 cm

Guy Yanai, Aurora, 2021, Oil on canvas, 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 inches, 80 x 60 cm

Guy Yanai, Bompard Interior, 2021, Oil on linen, 59 x 47 1/4 inches, 150 x 120 cm

Guy Yanai, Bompard Interior, 2021, Oil on linen, 59 x 47 1/4 inches, 150 x 120 cm

Guy Yanai, Bompard Interior, 2021, Oil on linen, 59 x 47 1/4 inches, 150 x 120 cm

Guy Yanai, Bompard Interior, 2021, Oil on linen, 59 x 47 1/4 inches, 150 x 120 cm

Guy Yanai, Claire and Her Boyfriend, 2021, Oil on canvas, 63 x 74 3/4 inches, 160 x 190 cm

Guy Yanai, Claire and Her Boyfriend, 2021, Oil on canvas, 63 x 74 3/4 inches, 160 x 190 cm

Guy Yanai, Flowers in Glass Jar, 2021, Oil on linen, 15 3/4 x 11 7/8 inches, 40 x 30 cm

Guy Yanai, Flowers in Glass Jar, 2021, Oil on linen, 15 3/4 x 11 7/8 inches, 40 x 30 cm

Guy Yanai, Found Flowers, 2021, Oil on linen, 15 3/4 x 11 7/8 inches, 40 x 30 cm

Guy Yanai, Found Flowers, 2021, Oil on linen, 15 3/4 x 11 7/8 inches, 40 x 30 cm

Guy Yanai, Garage Dauphiné, 2021, Oil on linen, 59 x 47 1/4 inches, 150 x 120 cm

Guy Yanai, Garage Dauphiné, 2021, Oil on linen, 59 x 47 1/4 inches, 150 x 120 cm

Guy Yanai, Gaspard At Solene's Uncle, 2020, Oil on canvas, 59 x 47 1/4 inches, 150 x 120 cm

Guy Yanai, Gaspard At Solene's Uncle, 2020, Oil on canvas, 59 x 47 1/4 inches, 150 x 120 cm

Guy Yanai, La Rochelle, 2021, Oil on linen, 59 x 78 3/4 inches, 150 x 200 cm

Guy Yanai, La Rochelle, 2021, Oil on linen, 59 x 78 3/4 inches, 150 x 200 cm

Guy Yanai, Margot & Gaspard (Platonic Relationship), 2021, Oil on linen, 59 x 47 1/4 inches, 150 x 120 cm

Guy Yanai, Margot & Gaspard (Platonic Relationship), 2021, Oil on linen, 59 x 47 1/4 inches, 150 x 120 cm

Guy Yanai, Margot in The Field, 2021, Oil on linen, 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 inches, 80 x 60 cm

Guy Yanai, Margot in The Field, 2021, Oil on linen, 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 inches, 80 x 60 cm

Guy Yanai, Mirabelle Outside, 2021, Oil on canvas, 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 inches, 80 x 60 cm

Guy Yanai, Mirabelle Outside, 2021, Oil on canvas, 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 inches, 80 x 60 cm

Guy Yanai, Rouge Flowers, 2021, Oil on linen, 15 3/4 x 11 7/8 inches, 40 x 30 cm

Guy Yanai, Rouge Flowers, 2021, Oil on linen, 15 3/4 x 11 7/8 inches, 40 x 30 cm

Guy Yanai, Sailing in Winter, 2021, Oil on canvas, 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 inches, 80 x 60 cm

Guy Yanai, Sailing in Winter, 2021, Oil on canvas, 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 inches, 80 x 60 cm

Guy Yanai, Saint-Malo (A Summer's Tale), 2020, Oil on canvas, 59 x 78 3/4 inches, 150 x 200 cm

Guy Yanai, Saint-Malo (A Summer's Tale), 2020, Oil on canvas, 59 x 78 3/4 inches, 150 x 200 cm

Guy Yanai, Saint-Malo (Gaspard & Solene), 2021, Oil on linen, 59 x 78 3/4 inches, 150 x 200 cm

Guy Yanai, Saint-Malo (Gaspard & Solene), 2021, Oil on linen, 59 x 78 3/4 inches, 150 x 200 cm

Guy Yanai, Sylvain and Pauline, 2020 - 2021, Oil on canvas, 59 x 78 3/4 inches, 150 x 200 cm

Guy Yanai, Sylvain and Pauline, 2020 - 2021, Oil on canvas, 59 x 78 3/4 inches, 150 x 200 cm

Guy Yanai, The Accident, 2021, Oil on linen, 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 inches, 80 x 60 cm

Guy Yanai, The Accident, 2021, Oil on linen, 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 inches, 80 x 60 cm

Guy Yanai, The Cafe at Rennes, 2021, Oil on linen, 59 x 70 7/8 inches, 150 x 180 cm

Guy Yanai, The Cafe at Rennes, 2021, Oil on linen, 59 x 70 7/8 inches, 150 x 180 cm

Guy Yanai, The Letter, 2021, Oil on linen, 59 x 47 1/4 inches, 150 x 120 cm

Guy Yanai, The Letter, 2021, Oil on linen, 59 x 47 1/4 inches, 150 x 120 cm

Guy Yanai, The New France, 2021, Oil on canvas, 59 x 47 1/4 inches, 150 x 120 cm

Guy Yanai, The New France, 2021, Oil on canvas, 59 x 47 1/4 inches, 150 x 120 cm

Guy Yanai, Woman With Apple, 2021, Oil on linen, 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 inches, 80 x 60 cm

Guy Yanai, Woman With Apple, 2021, Oil on linen, 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 inches, 80 x 60 cm

Press Release

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MILES McENERY GALLERY is delighted to announce an exhibition of paintings by Guy Yanai. The Things of Life, the artist’s fourth exhibition with the gallery, will open on 21 October at 525 West 22nd Street and remain on view through 27 November 2021. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue featuring an essay by Terence Trouillot.

The artist’s most recent paintings contain thematic pillars from Claude Sautet’s French new wave film Les Choses de la Vie (The Things of Life), 1970. The excellence of cinematography, romance of the period, and framing of the shots are reimagined in the compositions of Yanai’s paintings. These “cinematic compositions are dramatic, sexy, and ethereal in mood. Yet they are also cool, sensitive, and austere in tone. Les Choses de la Vie becomes a lens through which to understand this process, as the artist builds on a new body of work that is loose, intuitive, and experimental,” Trouillot illustrates.

The paintings are expressive, romantic, and enchanting. All of the works, the majority of which were produced in the artist’s Marseille, France studio, emulate a quiet, dream-like quality that echoes in a color palette of splendid surroundings. Delightful cruising sloops, quaint neighborhood cafés, tranquil interiors, and figures entangled in loving embraces fill the canvas in tight chromatic strips of vivid pastels. “Yanai’s signature paint marks give the portrait life: a complex web of daubs and swatches of color that come together to make a whole picture,” Trouillot writes in his essay, Guy Yanai: Painterly Intuition and a Flair for the Cinematic. With such diagrammatic delineation of form, it is as if one singular brushstroke were eliminated, the entirety of the image would collapse.

The exhibition speaks to moments of heartbreak and tragedy, as well as moments of rich intimacy. As Trouillot notes, “Claire and Her Boyfriend, 2021, seems to harken back to the main characters, Pierre and Hélène’s, romance. In this instance, two lovers are embracing in a sundrenched driveway. A car sits idly in the corner, while the female figure—half-nude in a blue bikini bottom—lifts to the tips of her toes to meet her lover for a kiss, their faces blending in a deluge of auburn hair. At the Hospital (Romy Schneider), 2021, shows Hélène at the hospital with her hand to her mouth, as she gets the news that Pierre has passed away; a bouquet of red roses sits in the foreground. Further examples, all 2021, include The Accident, The Letter, and The Café at Rennes.”

A place, a moment, a feeling; Yanai’s paintings prompt the viewer to behold, meditate, and relish in shared human experiences.

GUY YANAI (b. in 1977 in Haifa, Israel) attended Parsons School of Design, New York, NY; The New York Studio School, New York, NY; Pont-Aven School of Art, Pont-Aven, France and received a BFA from Hampshire College, Amherst, MA.

Yanai has had numerous solo exhibitions nationally and internationally. Recent solo exhibitions include “The Things of Life,” Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY; “The Caboose,” Praz-Delavallade, Los Angeles, CA; “ETÉ 2020,” Niels Kantor Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; “LIFE IN GERMANY,” Galerie Conrads, Düsseldorf, Germany; Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY; “Sentimental Spring,” SOCO Gallery, Charlotte, NC; “The Conformist,” Praz-Delavallade, Paris, France; “Boy On an Island,” Galerie Conrads, Düsseldorf, Germany; “Barbarian in the Garden,” Praz-Delavallade, Los Angeles, CA; “Speak, America,” Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe Gallery, New York, NY; “Calm European,” Flatland Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands; “Love of Beginnings,” Galerie Derouillon, Paris, France; “Mademoiselle Albertine est Partie! Kaye Donachie and Guy Yanai,” Appartement, Paris, France; “Ordinary Things,” Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa, Israel; “Ancienne Rive,” Ameringer | McEnery |Yohe Gallery, New York, NY; “Diary,” Galerie Derouillon, Paris, France; “First Battle Lived Accident,” Alon Segev Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel; “Accident Nothing,” Aran Cravey Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; “Lived and Laughed and Loved and Left,” LaMontagne Gallery, Boston, MA; and “Battle, Therapy, Living Room,” Velan Center for Contemporary Art, Turin, Italy.

Recent group exhibitions include “The Greek Garden,” Praz-Delavallade, Paris, France; “People in Time,” Asia Art Center, Tapei, Taiwan; “36+ Paintings,” Harper’s, East Hampton, NY; “Spot On,” Galerie Conrads, Düsseldorf, Germany; “Constructing an Imaginary,” Badr El Jundi Gallery, Málaga, Spain; “La terre est bleue comme une orange,” Praz-Delavallade,Paris,France; “High Voltage,” Nassima-Landau Project, Tel Aviv, Israel; “The West’s Awake,” Mayo Contemporary, Mayo, Ireland; “Sound & Color,” Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY; “Joint Gesure,” Galerie Conrads, Düsseldorf, Germany; “INTERIORS: Hello from the Living Room,” 1969 Gallery, New York, NY; “Do You Think it Needs a Cloud?,” Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY; “Leaving and Returning,” Braverman Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel; “To Paint Is To Love Again,” Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; “Flowers Are Part of our Story and our History,” Flatland Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands; “Le Magasin at Unit 5,” Praz-Delavallade, Los Angeles, CA; “Door into Summer/M’s Collection +,” Maho Kuhota Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; “Domestic Comfort,” Flatland Gallery ,Amsterdam, Netherlands; “YUMMY YUMMY,” Flatland Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands; “Betaland,” Galerie Conrads, Düsseldorf, Germany; “I Dream My Painting and Then I Paint My Dream,” UNIT 5, Los Angeles, CA; “The Barn Show 2018,” Johannes Vogt Gallery, East Hampton, NY; “As You Like It / C’est comme vous voulez,” Praz-Delavallade, Los Angeles, CA; “Belief in Giants,” Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY; “L’anti-destin,” 64 rue de Monceau, Paris, France; “Surreal House,” The Pill, Istanbul, Turkey; “Post Analog Painting II,” The Hole, New York, NY; “What’s Up 2.0,” London, England; “Tableaux,” Tristian Koenig, Melbourne, Australia; “The Ties That Bind,” David Achenbach Projects, Wuppertal, Germany; “Cause the Grass Don’t Grow and the Sky Ain’t Blue,” Praz-Delavallade, Paris, France; “From Andy Warhol to Contemporary Art: Culture, Color, Body,” Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa, Israel; “Bisou Magique,” Galerie Derouillon, Paris, France; and “Gardening,” Flatland Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Yanai currently lives and works in Tel Aviv, Israel and Marseille, France.

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