John Meredith – Last Breaths Press Release

The Christopher Cutts Gallery is pleased to present “John Meredith, Last Breaths,” featuring never-before-seen paintings from among the artist’s final studio works.

John Meredith’s last breaths were spent between cigarettes and bronchodilators, likely with a paintbrush in hand. Unwilling to let go of his vices for the sake of his health, he persisted in his habits until the end. Just as he was unmoved by the everchanging trends of abstract painting, Meredith concluded his life and practice in his own distinctive fashion.

The paintings included in “John Meredith, Last Breaths” are a gestural extension of his dragged-line works of the 1960s and 1970s. 1990’s Yume is light, fresh, and sparing in nature, but the artist’s unmistakably deft hand endures through it, nevertheless. Conversely, paintings like Emperor (c. 1993) and Key Largo (c. 1993) are so dynamic in their use of colour and impasto that they almost exceed his past works in their boldness. The black strokes Meredith was once known for are notably absent from these canvases, demonstrating his technical evolution as he progressed past the need for clearly defined contour lines.

Early in his career, Meredith carved out a unique niche for his practice at the bustling Isaacs Gallery, developing an artistic vernacular that would grant him acclaim with critics, collectors, and rising artists alike. Despite his demure reputation, Meredith held a level of celebrity—albeit abstracted by his hermetic tendencies. While his introversion was often exaggerated, the artist certainly valued interiority, emphasizing an instinctive and intellectual approach to painting that reflected his own thoughts and subconscious.

Despite his experiments and subsequent shifts in form, colour, and line, Meredith never abandoned his visual dialect. Rather, he adapted it, allowing it to expand to accommodate the introduction of new ideas and philosophies, as any language would. Appropriately, these final major studio works, completed in the 1990s before his hospitalization due to emphysema, demonstrate a certain eloquence: uncluttered and succinct.

“John Meredith, Last Breaths” will showcase the conclusive evolution of Meredith’s enigmatic visual vernacular, for which he was critically celebrated throughout his career. In the same manner that he was unwilling to surrender his lifestyle for his illness, Meredith saw that his characteristic delicate sensibility persisted through the capricious art trends of the 20th century and into these final paintings.

Join us this evening, Thursday, June 6, 5:30 – 8:30 pm, for the premiere presentation of “John Meredith, Last Breaths.”