EMPATHIC CONNECTION
New York, February 2022
Over the past few years, New York-based painter DORON LANGBERG has become one of the most exciting queer voices on the city’s dynamic contemporary art scene. In his figurative body of work, Langberg presents scenarios inspired by everyday experiences and people that are close to him, brilliantly portraying the intensity of the relationships he has with the subjects, as well as their emotional state. For the Israeli-born artist, the intimate nature and expressive palette of his paintings are a way of creating a bond with a viewer - what he describes as an ‘empathic connection’. “If you think of someone like van Gogh, who has inspired me for so long, there is a sense of the person’s interiority - and also van Gogh’s interiority - when you’re looking at his portraits, which establishes this connection between you and an object that was made over a hundred years ago,” says Langberg. “And that’s a magical feeling that I’ve always desired from my own work.” For SHADOWPLAY, Langberg talks about the view of queerness that informs his art practice, the emotional centre of his work, and the stories behind some of his paintings.
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You said previously, “Queerness for me is not just a sexual experience, but a way of being in the world which aects every aspect of my life.” How does this approach inform your work?
This view of queerness is actually a driving force in my practice. I work with a broad range of subjects: landscapes, flowers, family members, friends, in addition to explicit imagery, so the question of ‘why is this a queer image?’ comes up a lot in my studio. And to be honest, I don’t always have a concrete answer. But what’s very clear to me is that being queer does not only aect or relate to romantic or sexual relationships. It’s something that is evident in the friends that I have, the pop culture and art that I consume, the clothes I wear, my relationship with my family, and on a broader scale, how I’m perceived in the world: how people respond to me on the street, and even more generally, the rights and protection I have or don’t have as a citizen. These everyday interactions and structural approaches to queerness have a direct eect on my life and how I operate in the world. I want to express that in my work, and present queerness as expansively as I experience it.
What attracts you to creating figurative art?
I’ve never really made a conscious choice to work figuratively – I’ve been working that way since I started painting as a child. I’ve always responded to representational painters, from Velazquez to Alice Neel, who capture something fundamental about being human. In my own practice, working naturalistically from observation is my way of anchoring my work in the external world, while the more abstract elements of my paintings - color, gesture, texture - speak to an emotional world.
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Your work is a reflection of the environment that you are surrounded by. Do you ever come up with imaginary scenarios to paint or are your works always a depiction of situations that happened in real life?
It’s a combination of the two. My work comes directly from everyday experiences: either something happens in my life which makes me think, ‘This is a painting!’, or I come up with an idea of what I want to portray and think about it through the prism of existing relationships in my life.
The feeling of intimacy is central to your work. What is your take on it?
It’s funny because my work has been in so many shows that revolve around intimacy, which of course makes sense given my subject matter, but for me, it’s more about using the feeling of intimacy as a way of forming an empathic connection with the viewer. If you think of someone like van Gogh, who has inspired me for so long, there is a sense of the person’s interiority - and also van Gogh’s interiority - when you’re looking at his portraits, which establishes this connection between you and an object that was made over a hundred years ago. And that’s a magical feeling that I’ve always desired from my own work.
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In your paintings, you use a wide range of vibrant colors. What draws you to this palette?
I think that the color, alongside the materiality and gesture in my work, is its emotional centre. I try to use color in a way that’s very expressive and gives the viewer an idea of the mood that I’m trying to create – showcasing either my relationship with the subject or something about their emotional state. Color and touch have the ability to describe these internal aspects of our consciousness more so than the images themselves.
What artists have the biggest influence on your work right now?
I’ve always been really inspired by my friends and I’m lucky enough to know some of the best painters working today – artists like Salman Toor, Jenna Gribbon, Louis Fratino, Jennifer Packer, Gaby Collins-Fernandez, Sarah Faux, Michael Stamm and many more. This community of peers has been really influential and meaningful to me.
Do you have any dream locations to exhibit your work in the future?
The last few years taught me that reality is often more wild than my own imagination. A good example is the show Living Histories I was invited to be a part of at The Frick Collection – prior to that show, I did not expect in a million years to have my work presented in that context. It was such an incredible gift - and a dream I did not know I had - to get to create a painting for the Frick and be side by side with art history. But just to name one of my dreams, it’s to have my work exhibited in The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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Pants Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello tanktop artist’s own
Jacket Celine Homme
Left Jacket Ami Pants and tanktop artist’s own
Right Shirt Acne Studios Shorts Issey Miyake Plissé Homme
Left Tanktop Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello Jacket, boots and belt Celine Homme Shorts artist’s own
Right Shirt, pants and boots Celine Homme Tanktop artist’s own
Jacket Celine Homme Shirt Ami Trousers Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello
Interview by Martin Onufrowicz
Photography by Marie Tomanova
Fashion by Alicia Lombardini
Stylist’s assistant Sasha Leon