OPENS THIS THURSDAY · AUGUST 6 – 29 · NEW YORK
Second Nature
Gwen Yip & Spencer Patrick — two painters of a city that never looks back at you
“Float,” 34×62″, acrylic on canvas, 2025 — Spencer Patrick
OPENING RECEPTION · THIS THURSDAY
Thursday, August 6 · 6–9 PM
Collective Z · 325 Broome Street 1W, New York
Both artists present. Wine served. Afterward — the official after party at Beverly’s, with a special drink waiting for everyone who RSVP’d.
In Gwen Yip’s paintings, the people of New York are seen from behind — across the platforms, corridors and stairways of the subway. In Spencer Patrick’s they are seen entirely, at rest in rooms of their own making, but their eyes are closed. Turned away in public, turned inward in private: near enough to touch, impossible to know.
“In Passage,” 30×24″, acrylic on canvas, 2017 — Gwen Yip
For fourteen years Yip has painted her Subway Backs — riders held at a distance by pillars, railings, benches, and the dark gap of the roadbed. Flattened color, controlled perspective, deliberate omission; what remains is posture, the whole vocabulary of waiting. Nine of her paintings hang in the back room.
Patrick paints where those riders go next. In Artificial (2024–2026), solitary figures occupy rooms curated down to the last tile — comfort manufactured and branded, nature admitted only as product or picture. Ten paintings fill the main room, his first body of work presented with a New York gallery.
“Artificial,” 40×60″, acrylic on canvas, 2025 — Spencer Patrick
Hung in sequence, the exhibition runs the daily passage in reverse — you arrive into the rooms where we keep ourselves, and find behind them the underground that carries every private life.
The After Party — Beverly’s
When the reception closes we move five minutes down the block: Beverly’s, 297 Grand Street, from 9 PM — the artist-owned bar and exhibition space that has anchored the Lower East Side since 2012.
beverlys.nyc · not on the list yet? RSVP here
Collecting Second Nature
Nineteen paintings across two rooms, all available. For the illustrated price list, or to arrange a private viewing before or after opening night, reply to this email — or ask at the desk on Thursday. The show runs through August 29: Wednesday–Saturday, 1–6 PM, and by appointment.
MEANWHILE, ONLINE
Alex Z. Wang — The Shape of Quiet
At Foundations 2026, Artsy’s online art fair — organized and hosted by Artsy, on view virtually at artsy.net through August 21. A small group of oils from the director’s own studio, painted in Bushwick in 2025: thin wet-on-wet veils resolving into light, dissolving edges, color against darkness.
Exhibition details
Second Nature — Gwen Yip & Spencer Patrick
August 6–29, 2026
Opening reception: Thursday, August 6, 6–9 PM — RSVP required
Official after party: Beverly’s, 297 Grand Street, from 9 PM
The Shape of Quiet — Alex Z. Wang
Foundations 2026, Artsy’s online art fair — through August 21
Gallery hours: Wednesday–Saturday, 1–6 PM, and by appointment
Collective Z, 325 Broome Street, 1W, New York, NY 10002
See you Thursday,
Alex Z. Wang
Founder & Director, Collective Z
Collective Z · 325 Broome Street, 1W, New York, NY 10002