Magenta Plains

About the Gallery
Magenta Plains is a contemporary art gallery founded in 2016 by David Deutsch, Chris Dorland, and Olivia Smith. The gallery originally opened on the Lower East Side and recently relocated to a multi floor 4,500 square foot space at the intersection of Canal Street and Bowery. With an intergenerational emphasis, the gallery's mission is to foster context and meaning for the development of new ideas and emerging art as well as to present and preserve older generations of artists' work.  

The gallery represents artists including Jennifer Bolande, Ebecho Muslimova, Rachel Rossin, Ken Lum, Zach Bruder, Don Dudley, the Estate of Barbara Ess, Tiril Hasselknippe, Jibade-Khalil Huffman, Alex Kwartler, Liza Lacroix, Anne Libby, Chason Matthams, Peter Nagy, and Bill Saylor.  Additionally, the gallery presents a dynamic discourse through its program of curated group shows and project-based solo exhibitions including Sascha Braunig, Danica Lundy, and David Ostrowski.  

Magenta Plains has presented memorable historical solo exhibitions including William Wegman’s rare, altered photographs and drawings from the 1970s and 80s, Lillian Schwartz’ critically acclaimed debut New York solo gallery show at age 89, German artist Georg Herold’s caviar paintings and sculptures, as well as collages and moving image from acclaimed experimental filmmaker Stan VanDerBeek.

About the presentation

For the 2024 edition of the Independent NY, Magenta Plains presents recent paintings by Jane Swavely (b. 1959) and drawings and paintings from the early 1990s and 2000s by Alan Uglow (1941–2011). This dual presentation features two devoted urbanists who define one of New York City’s most recognizable neighborhoods: The Bowery, and marks the first time their work will be shown alongside one another. The presentation pays homage to painterly conversations specific to the New York scene of the late 20th century.

As contemporary downtown denizens, Uglow and Swavely were impacted by the avant-garde culture percolating on what had been known as “skid row” while maintaining distinctive minimalist visions related to color and phenomenology. Uglow, a British visual artist moved from London to New York City in 1969 and settled on the Bowery in 1974 after befriending fellow post-minimalist painters such as Jake Berthot, Brice Marden, and Winston Roeth. Amidst the competing strands of Conceptualism, Minimalism, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop which permeated the downtown scene across the years Uglow inhabited it, Uglow maintained a critical remove while subtly adapting his painting according to ongoing dialogues. Swavely meanwhile has been a committed practitioner of gestural abstraction in the downtown scene for multiple decades, adapting her particular blend of tones, shades, and brushstrokes over the years to demonstrate a command of the painted surface as a location for visual exploration.