The Anxious Watchers, by Cynthia Carlson
Duane Thomas Gallery is pleased to present The Shape of Things, an exhibition of new works by Cynthia Carlson, opening on February 12, 2026, with a reception from 6 to 8 PM. The exhibition brings together works created over the last two years, reflecting the artist’s sustained engagement with animated abstraction, movement, and the generative possibilities of drawing.
Cynthia Carlson is a pioneering figure in feminist art history and an early participant in the Pattern and Decoration movement. Emerging in the late 1960s and 1970s, her work challenged the hierarchies of modernism by embracing ornament, repetition, and visual pleasure at a moment when such elements were critically marginalized. Carlson’s practice has long foregrounded pattern as a primary structural and conceptual force, positioning abstraction as a site of resistance, play, and agency. Her influence continues to resonate in contemporary conversations around feminist abstraction and material-driven practices.
The Shape of Things will be on view at Duane Thomas Gallery
February 12 through March 14, 2026.