The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., recently opened “Love, Queen,” a landmark exhibition by Adam Pendleton, which is on view now across all four floors of the institution. Known for his interdisciplinary approach and insistence on abstraction as a political and poetic language, Pendleton debuts nearly 40 new paintings alongside a potent video work that expands the conversation around mark-making and modern gesture.
Born in Richmond, Virginia, Pendleton returns to what he calls his, “hometown museum,” with an exhibition years in the making. “Love, Queen” reflects a conceptual rigor and a physical intensity that has become synonymous with Pendleton’s practice, evolving abstraction into something not only seen, but felt.
“This exhibition is about painting as a practice,” said Hirshhorn Director Melissa Chiu during opening remarks. “What were the two most seismic shifts in painting over the past few centuries? Photography and abstraction. This show pushes both forward.”
That push is quiet but seismic — offering not declarations but meditations, not answers but possibilities.
Pendleton’s paintings are both visually and conceptually dense. They blur the formal lines between painting, photography, drawing, and print. Created with a mix of ink, spray paint, watercolor, and stenciling, the works carry an atmospheric tension—gestures that feel choreographed, yet improvisational.
“Adam and I share a deep commitment to the beauty of painting,” said Head Curator Evelyn Hankins. “But we come at it from different vantage points. The exhibition is an invitation for close looking.”
That invitation culminates in “Resurrection City Revisited: Who Owns Geometry, Anyway,” a video that anchors the exhibition’s final gallery. Weaving archival footage from the civil rights era with abstract animations, the film holds a mirror up to the rest of the show—reminding viewers that the history of gesture is as political as it is aesthetic.
“It’s the video,” Hankins noted, “that is truly a testament to his expansive understanding of what painting can be.”
Art collector and High Museum of Art Board Member Hassan Smith shared that “Love, Queen” was “one of [his] favorite exhibition[s] of the year.” While Pendleton’s work can be a bit enigmatic and challenging for newer enthusiasts to absorb, Smith articulated the “depth, character and brilliance of Adam pour[ing] out from his latest works.”
For Pendleton, this moment is both personal and public.
“These works are about abstract and complex thought,” he told the assembled audience. “They ask us to recognize, push, and realize our humanistic spirit and potential.”
As he stood before the paintings, the artist reflected on his early visits to the Hirshhorn and how works by artists like Joan Mitchell, Hans Hofmann, and Jackson Pollock shaped him. Now, his paintings hang in dialogue with theirs, in the museum’s adjoining Revolutions exhibition.
If “Love, Queen” is about anything, it’s about taking time.
“This work is not about quick looking,” Pendleton reminded the audience. “Open your eyes. Open your mind. Use your imaginative potential.”
That ethos radiates through the show — from the smallest stenciled mark to the immersive power of the final video.
For audiences, the invitation is clear: slow down, look closely, and form your own relationship with the work. Research the practice. Revisit the rooms. Let the rhythm of Pendleton’s abstraction lead you toward new questions — about art, identity, and the spaces in between.
Chiu and Hankins have created space for Pendleton’s voice to resonate — not just as an artist, but as a thinker, a builder of language, and a contributor to the ever-evolving history of abstraction. As Chiu said, “This exhibition adds to the conversation of where art is today.”
“Love, Queen” is on view now at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, located at Independence Ave and 7th St SW, Washington, DC 20560. The video work plays at the top of every hour.