Shapeshifter
Shapeshifter
August 27, 2026 - October 2, 2026
Philadelphia
Wexler Gallery is pleased to present Danny Balgley: Shapeshifter, a solo exhibition of new paintings and works on paper by New York-based artist Danny Balgley. Featuring a vibrant new body of work, the exhibition marks a significant development in Balgley's practice, expanding upon the restrained, tonal color field paintings he produced throughout 2025 into a richer and more exuberant exploration of color, movement, and materiality.
Balgley's paintings emerge from a sustained engagement with surfaces shaped by time, erosion, and human intervention. Drawing inspiration from the weathered remains of hand-painted billboards and urban facades, his works are constructed through a subtractive process in which successive layers of paint are applied, obscured, scraped away, and revealed, transforming each canvas into a visual record of accumulated gestures and histories, where traces of earlier decisions remain embedded within the final composition.
In these latest works, Balgley embraces vivid and often unexpected color relationships, allowing saturated hues to emerge through translucent veils and abraded passages of paint. Ghostly forms drift across the surface, dissolving conventional distinctions between foreground and background. Exaggerated gestures, at times recalling the visual immediacy of Pop Art, animate the picture plane with an energetic rhythm while maintaining the contemplative depth that has long characterized his work. The result is a dynamic tension between spontaneity and restraint, presence and disappearance, creating paintings that continuously shift as they are viewed.
Also on view will be a selection of ceramic works by St. Louis–based artist and designer Daniel Shapiro. Characterized by bold forms, unexpected silhouettes, and a playful sense of movement, Shapiro's work challenges conventional ideas of functional design, blurring the boundaries between furniture, lighting, and sculpture. His expressive, hand-built forms balance humor with formal sophistication, transforming everyday objects into animated, characterful presences.
