The opening comments of the announcement for “In Flux” at Private Public Gallery in Hudson declares (as written by stewards Chris Freeman and Matthew McNamara): “two artists who have spent decades hijacking painting and sculpture” have taken over the “gallery that refuses to behave like a neutral room.” This description sets the stage for our encounter with this gorgeous show that features recent works by Judy Pfaff and Michael David, two legendary figures who blow it out together in a dynamic presentation.
The brief bios for Pfaff and David provide a compelling glance at the development of the art scene over the last half century. Born in London and raised in Detroit, Pfaff studied with Al Held at Yale University in the 1970s and went on to become a leading pioneer of installation art. Pfaff’s interdisciplinary practice spans across painting, printmaking, and sculpture and she is widely admired for sprawling site-specific installations that embody a distinctly Pfaff-ian excitement, beauty and chaos. Those installations consider the unique spatial geometries of the given space and are deconstructed after each display, the result being that no two Pfaff shows are every duplicated in any way. The artist statement on her website indicates that “she and her crew labor for months or years for shows that last days or weeks.”
Equally adventurous in his practice, David’s work as an Abstract Expressionist both defines the term and simultaneously explodes it, and his art offers a cutting-edge vision of Ab-Ex tendencies today. Born in Reno and raised in Brooklyn, David was active in the early punk music scene in New York City and played in clubs alongside musical heroes such as the Ramones and Blondie. Over time he embraced his life as a painter, and his latest works are densely layered surfaces that incorporate beeswax, pigment, and mirrored glass in assemblages that lean toward transcendence. As written by the celebrated critic and poet Donald Kuspit: “David may be the most innovative master of immediate surface since the Abstract Expressionists.” Kuspit goes on to say, “Where the Abstract Expressionist paintings of the forties and fifties seem like modern cave paintings…David seems to turn the cave into a temple.”
“In Flux” brings Pfaff’s and David’s work together in a wild neon-hued theatrical setting that glows with the vibrancy of these two ambitious creators. The ambiance feels like an exquisite garbage heap in a cracked world, where the hint of violence and disarray is balanced by a seductive allure in the form of mangled plastics, demolished mirrors, luminous colored yarns, found objects and a splash of glitter throughout, providing erratic beauty at every turn.
The anchor of the show is Pfaff’s Honey Grass and the Wind Deer (2026), consisting of a greenish woven-plastic backdrop with a chandelier hanging from above and two chairs at either side with neon lighting dripping all about. The overall mood of this piece feels like a saucy scene from a Hong Kong gangster film or some such decadence. Buffalo (2026) is a sumptuous, red-hued monstrosity that seems to writhe and breath and thereby defy its stationary position, indeed a gripping mutant-like vision. With Run, Run, Run, Run, Runaway (2026), Pfaff keeps the momentum going with a hunk of LED lighting and woven plastic in shades of purple, red and black that appears to pulse as it stretches across the wall.
David’s glittering mirrored glass sculptural mashups are a striking parallel universe alongside Pfaff. The Batman (2023-26) is a dazzling and muscular black and pink-hued pile of glass, paint, and fabric that is provocative, playful and powerful all at once. (I lost myself staring at a fractured reflection of myself within a section of this magnificent wreckage.) Under Construction (2023-26) is a glorious mess of smashed mirrors in shades of white, another ravishing image of ethereal devastation. Two smaller sculptures on the wall, Untitled 13 (2023-26) and Untitled 15 (2025-26), act as footnotes to David’s process, the former a fully destroyed mirror and the later a smooth slice of obsidian with a piece of broken glass at the bottom, both of which serve as reminders of the actual danger involved in creating these opulent objects.
The day that I visited the show, I had the pleasure of meeting Michael David there, who was holding court among a group of seasoned artists and writers. A vigorous conversation ensued, and I was swept into David’s life story as he spoke passionately about the art world at large, his work, and his all-out admiration of Pfaff. I frantically jotted down notes and upon returning to David’s comments to write this review, his ecstatic remark serves as a fitting encapsulation of this stunning show: “Art comes with every impulse.”
“In Flux” is on view through November 22 at Private Public Gallery in Hudson.”
