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Elise Nguyen Quoc: Despite the Teacher's Threats, and the Jeers of Child Prodigies
Gratin, New York
April 29 - June 27, 2026

One of the strengths of the building at 291 Grand, currently occupied by Gratin Gallery, is the unassuming structure and its lack of the architectural bravado we’ve come to expect from some of the more established spaces. Of course, on the flip side, a rougher space can have its drawbacks. It’s something I’ve always thought about on my way up the narrow staircase, as these types of contexts set their own expectations, and can be difficult to ignore, or at least to separate completely from the experience of the work. Fortunately, the content of Elise Nguyen Quoc’s exhibition fully leverages this experience to great effect.

Upon entering the space, one is met with monumental pieces of astonishing precision, bold gesture, and in some cases intense color–works that with great confidence navigate the tradition of abstract image making across traditional media, incorporating a range of historical references and precedents. These large works are played off of smaller pieces, often with more subdued palettes, yet the emotional register remains consistent. What sets this work apart from its historical forerunners is the artist’s own rejection of traditional drawing processes in favor of a photographic impulse motivated by chance encounters that are the byproduct of an everyday existence.

The greatest success of the exhibition is in the way Quoc navigates time, producing images that at once contract and expand, rewarding viewers willing to slow down long enough to engage with these visuals in an active way. Photographic in nature, the source material lends itself to contraction, while the finished pieces, with their deep range of marks, each of which seemingly having received an unwavering attention from the artist, take that photographic compression and re-enlarge it, stretch it, expand it.

This push and pull produces imagery that, when approached with patience and openness, provide the viewer with an experience that begins to touch on the infinite rather than the finite. Simple surface variations like folds and creases expand to become landscapes and topography while seemingly repetitive marks take on a variety of subtle shifts, reminding us of the true depth of visual experience available to the willing viewer. This celebration of perception feels in this moment like an absolute reward, and in many ways a form of protest, given the work’s rejection of the utter flatness we’re continually inundated with via the slick glass screens that now characterize nearly every aspect of our total existence.