Peter Doig: I think it's time . . . , 1982-83, oil on canvas, 71 by 93 3/4 inches. Courtesy Michael Werner Gallery.
This show explores the early work of a painter known for enigmatic imagery and lush, painterly surfaces. On view are several major canvases and a selection of drawings, all featuring quirky figurative scenes in rough-hewn lines and garish colors. Produced in the early 1980s, while Doig was still in his twenties, the large paintings on view in the main gallery suggest a range of influences, from the Chicago Imagists to ’80s Neo-Expressionists like A.R. Penck and Jörg Immendorff, as well as contemporaneous works by Malcolm Morley. However, Doig’s resplendent compositions, such as I think it’s time. . . (1982-83), and Boom, boom, boom, boom (the sublime), 1982, demonstrate a unique and startling form of narrative in which Pop culture elements and mundane activities are elevated to nearly mythological status.