“Vera Paints” was a tagline advertising collections of scarves and accessories from the Vera Company, reminding shoppers that the fashion brand’s founder, Vera Neumann, began her floral designs with original paintings in watercolor and ink on paper. Alexander Gray represents the estate of Neumann, a heavyweight in postwar design circles. “Vera Paints a Rainbow” is a sequel of sorts to last year’s “Vera Paints a Summer Bouquet.” Then, the paintings were jauntily hung salon style, as if freshly picked and gathered. Now, the gallery walls are painted as a rainbow, with big blocks of color, and works are scattered across it loosely corresponding by palette. Strawberries, carrots, daisies, leaves, bluebirds and a pig—drawn with a few thick purplish pink smears—make a gradient of living things that gain new breath in Neumann’s vibrant brushwork.
Pictured: Installation view of “Vera Paints a Rainbow”; at Alexander Gray Associates, New York.