Joe Fig at Cristin Tierney

Joe Fig is currently showing a group of paintings about looking at art; the exhibition is named “Contemplation.” In addition to being a nuanced description concerning the regard of art, the project enables Fig to represent well-known works by recognized artists such as Donald Judd, Alice Neel, and Ben Shahn. At the same time the exhibition may be practically useful, affording glimpses of works particularly hard to visit in the time of quarantine. Whatever the painter’s personal motive, the show makes sense as meta-art--work whose visual motif lies directly within the artworld, being images about other images.