Capitain Petzel hosts It Used To Be, the second solo exhibition of Ross Bleckner, one of the most poetic voices in New York’s art scene since the 1980s, from September 11 to October 18, 2025. The title points to the liminal space between presence and absence, the shadow of “what once was,” and the transient nature of human experience.
In Bleckner’s paintings, organic forms often appear as ghostly entities with blurred edges, shimmering within light. Flowers, leaves, or raindrops are not directly represented; they dissolve within layers of paint, transforming into an atmospheric presence. This approach recalls Georgia O’Keeffe’s insistence on painting flowers as “just flowers,” yet Bleckner turns them into vessels of memory, loss, and light. Layered surfaces, erased traces, and reconstructed textures preserve the specter of form while offering viewers a profound emotional resonance.
In his recent works, Bleckner floats a single form against a monochromatic background with minimal compositions. This approach, particularly evident in the Sunset series, creates an atmosphere that is both earthly and otherworldly. In It Used To Be, large-scale canvases sit alongside smaller, more intimate works, inviting viewers into a meditative space where light and shadow ripple. Here, abstraction is not a distancing tool but a means of intensifying emotion.
Recognized for the visual language he developed during the AIDS crisis in 1980s New York, Bleckner has earned a place in art history as a painter who “mourns with light.” His recurring patterns, blurred transitions, and fragile textures transform human mortality and transformation into pictorial poetry. At just 45, he became the youngest artist to have a retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and today, he continues to paint in the delicate balance between fragility and beauty, loss and light.
📍 Capitain Petzel, Berlin
📅 September 11 – October 18, 2025
⏰ Tuesday–Saturday, 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM
