Lies & Redactions: A Survey

Doug Navarra’s extended investigation of mark-making has evolved to include historic found documents, bold minimalistic redactions, and layered geometric patterns. Lies and Redactions: A Survey features work from 2006–2021, spanning numerous distinct series in the artist’s career.

Early pieces on view highlight Navarra’s integration of found documents into his drawing and painting practice. “When my personal history as a 21^st century artist is added to a 150-year-old piece of paper, it transforms the context of the page from a minor historical record into a contemporary and self-expressive work of art.” The progression of the found document pieces demonstrates the artist’s ability to work collaboratively with the past by navigating the marks already found on the documents themselves.

Navarra’s recent work shifts away from the inclusion of historic documents and highlights the possibilities of abstraction using redaction marks. Historically, redactions obscure, censor, or control written information, often for political or legal purposes.  Rather than adding to historic works, the artist is abstracting a surface by removing it from view. This challenges the viewer to question the veracity of what they see on the surface and consider what is lying beneath.

Navarra lives and works in the Northeastern United States and has exhibited his work across the country at museums, galleries, and universities. He has been awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship, a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship, and is a three-time awardee of the prestigious Pollock-Krasner Fellowship. His work is in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Art Museum, Museum of Arts and Design, and Rutgers University.

Visit the artist’s website here.