You what?

Ida Applebroog

Mar 4 – Jul 10, 2025

Ida Applebroog

Rainbow Caverns, 1987

Description

In a post-truth era, with surging racism, chauvinism, sexism, transphobia, and other alarming trends, Ronald Feldman Gallery announces an exhibition of work by Ida Applebroog (1929-2023). Finding inspiration from an expansive psychological perspective, this acclaimed artist is known for her razor-sharp explorations of contemporary life. Her art transforms current events into human events by employing carefully selected examples of individual lives as representations of collective society - in short, an inside-out versus clinical (outside-looking-in) approach. By presenting emotionally-charged “mid-situations” – narratives with undefined beginnings and ends, and, later on, loaded juxtapositions – Applebroog masterfully empowers viewers to use their hearts and minds to “finish” the work by determining the meaning for themselves. Singular and affecting, Applebroog’s art offers a space for visceral experiences as a path for engaging with a spectrum of issues, and a doorway into the diverseness of the human psyche.

You what? focuses on work created by the artist in the 1980s and early 1990s - a fascinating period of development and maturation into greater scale and complexity. During this time, Applebroog had eight solo exhibitions at the Ronald Feldman Gallery, who represented her work between 1981 and 2005, featuring it in a total of twelve solo exhibitions.