Selected Works

Miles McEnery Gallery is pleased to present Intervals, California-based artist Kevin Appel’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery. The exhibition is on view 19 February through 28 March 2026 at 515 West 22nd Street. Accompanying the exhibition is a fully illustrated publication featuring an essay by Bridget R. Cooks.

In Intervals, Appel presents a body of work that marks a measured yet decisive evolution in his practice. Where earlier paintings were characterized by dense patterning and compressed surfaces, these new works open into expansive fields of calibrated color and line, allowing breath, rhythm, and pause to take on greater significance. The artist reflects, “The work is shifting, and right now it feels crucial that I don’t have an end result in mind… it’s been more about being present and disciplined in the process.”

Central to this change is Appel’s use of liquid pigment dispersions, adjusted with varying binders to control density, opacity, and how color settles and holds light. The material remains active only briefly, making timing an integral component of the process. Before the surface dries, Appel unsettles it through wiping, spraying, lifting, and allowing gravity to intervene. As Appel explains, “The material demands a kind of responsiveness. It pushes back, it misbehaves. That unpredictability is what gives the surface its life.”

Warm and cool tonalities move in delicate counterpoint, strengthening the compositions’ sense of levity and openness. As Bridget R. Cooks observes, “Appel’s affective color palette ranges from reserved pastels to jewel tones. The color combinations, selected with intention, create distinct moods and encourage communion.” She further notes, “The forms appear to move from left to right, and the viewer reads them like writing.” Together, these works invite sustained looking, their layered surfaces revealing a quiet choreography of time, gesture, and perception that underscores Appel’s continued inquiry into the possibilities of geometric abstraction.