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Jonathan Lasker

Jonathan Lasker

  • Selected Works
  • Biography
  • Exhibitions
  • Institutional
  • Press
  • News
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  • Works
    • Jonathan Lasker, Alter Ego, 2019
      Jonathan Lasker
      Alter Ego2019
      Oil on linen
      30 x 40 in. (76 x 102 cm)
    • Jonathan Lasker, Podium For Unequal Twins, 2019
      Jonathan Lasker
      Podium For Unequal Twins2019
      Oil on linen
      11 3⁄4 x 16 1⁄8 in. (30 x 41 cm)
    • Jonathan Lasker, A Metaphysical Setting, 2018
      Jonathan Lasker
      A Metaphysical Setting2018
      Oil on linen
      30 x 40 in. (76.2 x 101.6 cm)
    • Jonathan Lasker, Ideal Interior, 2018
      Jonathan Lasker
      Ideal Interior2018
      Oil on linen
      59 7⁄8 x 79 7⁄8 in. (152 x 203 cm)
    • Jonathan Lasker, Still Life in an Uncertain Universe, 2010
      Jonathan Lasker
      Still Life in an Uncertain Universe2010
      Oil on linen
      30 x 40 in. (76 x 102 cm)
    • Jonathan Lasker, Standards of Identification, 2006
      Jonathan Lasker
      Standards of Identification2006
      Oil on linen
      75 x 100 in. (190.5 x 254 cm)
    • Jonathan Lasker, The Art of the Emotional Restraint, 1999
      Jonathan Lasker
      The Art of the Emotional Restraint1999
      Oil on canvasboard
      11 x 14 in. (28 x 36 cm)
    • Jonathan Lasker, Why People Are Nice, 1997
      Jonathan Lasker
      Why People Are Nice1997
      Oil on linen
      80 x 60 in. (203.2 x 152.4 cm)
    • Jonathan Lasker, Natural Formality, 1991
      Jonathan Lasker
      Natural Formality1991
      Oil on linen
      59 7⁄8 x 79 7⁄8 in. (152 x 203 cm)
    • Jonathan Lasker, Untitled, 1988
      Jonathan Lasker
      Untitled1988
      Oil on paper
      6 3/4 x 5 in.
      17 x 13 cm
  • Biography
    Photo: Barbara Probst
    Photo: Barbara Probst

    The three elements in my paintings; figure, ground, and line are almost like the three elements in a band; bass, drums, and lead.

    Jonathan Lasker (b. 1948, Jersey City, New Jersey) is an American abstract painter whose vibrant squiggle-filled works playfully interrogate space and movement. An integral figure of Postmodern painting, Lasker creates dynamic compositions that appear spontaneous—as if they are the results of offhand doodling—yet are based on numerous meticulously crafted small studies. The artist initially aspired to be a professional musician and toured internationally as a bass guitarist before returning to the United States, where he studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York and at California Institute of the Arts. The frenetic energy of his paintings reflects this early musical training.

    Lasker uses repeating motifs and forms throughout his work, which he rearranges in compositions using a logic he has described as a “jigsaw puzzle” approach. He works primarily in oil on linen but has also created lithograph editions and works on paper. The art historian Robert Hobbs includes Lasker in a key group of conceptual painters he terms “meta-abstractionists”; this group also includes Ross Bleckner, Peter Halley, and Mary Heilmann. Lasker has written extensively on his own work and that of other artists, and many of these texts were compiled in the 1998 book Complete Essays: 1984–1998. 

    Download CV (PDF, opens in a new tab.)
  • Exhibitions
    • The Kids Are Alright

      The Kids Are Alright

      27 June - 1 August 2025 New York
      Curated by Helen Toomer, The Kids Are Alright will feature contemporary and historical works that explore cultural conceptions of childhood.
      View More
    • Jonathan Lasker

      Jonathan Lasker

      Pictures for Happy Existentialists 24 April - 8 June 2025 London
      Pictures for Happy Existentialists will feature paintings and drawings dating from 1990 through 2025, offering a curated survey of Lasker’s singular exploration into line, figure, and ground.
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    • Slow Learner

      Slow Learner

      1 - 23 August 2014 London
      Ghada Amer, David Austen, John Baldessari, Marcel Broodthaers, Matthew Brannon, Alistair Frost, Susan Hiller, Clive Hodgson, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Jonathan Lasker, Charles Mayton, Ed Ruscha, Joel Sternfeld, Lawrence Weiner
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    • Outside In

      Outside In

      18 May - 13 June 2012 London
      Outside In explores how artists reinvent traditional genres including landscape, still life and interiors, and the relationship between these in their current and recent practice – reinvesting these traditional categories with new dynamism and interpretations.
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    • Jonathan Lasker

      Jonathan Lasker

      The 80s 19 November - 23 December 2011 London
      Timothy Taylor Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of paintings from the 1980s by the American artist Jonathan Lasker.
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    • Jonathan Lasker

      Jonathan Lasker

      Studies for Paintings 1986-2006 2 May - 16 June 2007 London
      Timothy Taylor Gallery is delighted to announce a unique retrospective of 35 small studies for paintings executed between 1986 and the present day. Although mostly produced in the 1980s and 1990s, these studies seem especially contemporary. Lasker has consistently explored the possibilities of abstract pictographic language, and this retrospective is an opportunity to see his development.
      View More
    • Jonathan Lasker

      Jonathan Lasker

      Coloured Scribbles 26 February - 27 March 2004 London
      Timothy Taylor Gallery is pleased to announce a major solo exhibition of new work by Jonathan Lasker, This will be Lasker's largest solo exhibition in London to date.
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    • Sean Scully – Jonathan Lasker – Guillermo Kuitca – Miquel Barcelo – Jiri Georg Dokoupil - Donald Baechler

      Sean Scully – Jonathan Lasker – Guillermo Kuitca – Miquel Barcelo – Jiri Georg Dokoupil - Donald Baechler

      7 September - 18 October 2000 London
      Timothy Taylor Gallery’s September exhibition brings together work by six internationally recognised painters who will be exhibited in solo exhibitions at the gallery over the next 18 months. For the gallery this represents the ongoing relationship with Sean Scully, Jonathan Lasker, Guillermo Kuitca and Miquel Barcelo, and the beginning of a new relationship with Jiri Georg Dokoupil and Donald Baechler.
      View More
    • Jonathan Lasker

      Jonathan Lasker

      New Paintings 10 February - 14 March 1998 London
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  • Institutional

    • Jonathan Lasker: Drawings and Studies, Frye Art Museum, WA
      News

      Jonathan Lasker: Drawings and Studies

      Frye Art Museum, WA 25 October 2025 – 27 September 2026
      For over five decades, American artist Jonathan Lasker has approached the elements of painting like a puzzle—taking it apart, turning the pieces, and putting it back together in new ways....
    • Jonathan Lasker, Chris Martin, and Eddie Martinez in Upside Down Zebra, The Watermill Center, NY
      News

      Jonathan Lasker, Chris Martin, and Eddie Martinez in Upside Down Zebra

      The Watermill Center, NY 28 June 2025 – 15 February 2026
      Upside Down Zebra explores the artistic value of children’s imagination, its inherent role in cognitive development, and its profound influence on contemporary art. The exhibition will feature works from the...
    • Jonathan Lasker: Paintings from Five Decades, Museum of Recent Art (MARe), Bucharest
      News

      Jonathan Lasker: Paintings from Five Decades

      Museum of Recent Art (MARe), Bucharest 20 February – 11 May 2024
      Jonathan Lasker: Paintings from Five Decades , a solo exhibition of the New York-based painter, opens at the Museum of Recent Art (MARe) in Bucharest on February 20th in the...
    • Jonathan Lasker in Abstract Painting Now!, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems, Austria
      News

      Jonathan Lasker in Abstract Painting Now!

      Kunsthalle Krems, Krems, Austria 2 July – 5 November 2017
      The exhibition 'Abstract Painting Now!' surveys the international landscape of abstract painting today. Featuring more than 60 positions from Gerhard Richter to Sean Scully and Katharina Grosse, the show unfolds...
    • The Conversation Continues: Highlights from the James Cottrell and Joseph Lovett Collection, Jonathan Lasker, 16 September 2016 – 1 January...
      News

      The Conversation Continues: Highlights from the James Cottrell and Joseph Lovett Collection, Jonathan Lasker, 16 September 2016 – 1 January 2017, Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Brooker Sr. Grand Gallery, Orlando Museum of Art, Florida, FL

      16 September 2016
  • Press
    • Jonathan Lasker. Pictures for Happy Existentialists

      Guillaume Oranger, artpress, 24 April 2025
  • News

    • A Conversation on Jonathan Lasker, Timothy Taylor, London
      News

      A Conversation on Jonathan Lasker

      Timothy Taylor, London 6 June, 11am
      As part of London Gallery Weekend, join Timothy Taylor for a conversation inside the exhibition Jonathan Lasker: Pictures for Happy Existentialists with painters Katrina Blannin, John Chilver, and Danny Rolph....

London

15 Bolton Street
London W1J 8BG

New York

74 Leonard Street
New York, NY 10013

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