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“This Heat,” curated by Jacob Brooks, brings together 17 works by Brenda Goodman, Steve DiBenedetto and Bendix Harms at the New York Studio School. In a September 30 review, John Yau describes an uneven but productive grouping that complicates comparisons between the artists and highlights humor, ambiguity and unsettling figures in their paintings.
Hyperallergic published John Yau’s review of “This Heat,” an exhibition at the New York Studio School featuring paintings by Brenda Goodman, Steve DiBenedetto and Bendix Harms. The show brings 17 works into two galleries and, Yau writes, makes its viewers reconsider how the artists’ different approaches to abstraction, figuration and humor relate.
Curated by Jacob Brooks, the exhibition includes three works by Harms and seven each by Goodman and DiBenedetto. Yau says the imbalance initially led him to shift attention between the artists and test whether their work shared a formal connection. He ultimately found direct comparison a dead end, while describing the grouping as an unexpected challenge that pushed him outside his usual viewing habits.
Harms, whom Yau had not previously studied, is described in the review as a 59-year-old German artist living on a remote farm in northern Denmark. The exhibition brochure, written by Brooks, says Harms draws on his immediate circumstances and paints directly on canvas with a palette knife. In “Tears of No Return” (2020), birds, a bloodied cat and a large crying face occupy a flattened, layered space. Yau reads the scene as comically grotesque, with the tears suggesting helplessness in the face of conflict.
Goodman’s seven works include paintings made between 2020 and 2026 as well as a small work on paper. Yau connects them to her stated interest in “pain and sadness,” while emphasizing that they move between abstraction and figuration without settling into clear narratives. He singles out “Mounting Thoughts” (2024), whose pile of cone-like forms and dark, oozing spaces remain difficult to identify. DiBenedetto’s seven paintings, including the large “Isotope Plus” (2026), combine grotesque and comic figures. Yau describes the latter as a flattened, multi-limbed form against a luminous blue ground, linked to the artist’s longstanding interest in octopuses.
Three Different Routes Through Painting
The exhibition places three distinct bodies of work together without requiring them to make a single argument. Yau’s account suggests that the pairing can prompt viewers to look closely at each artist on their own terms, as well as notice unexpected echoes in their use of unsettling imagery and humor.
That approach also broadens the setting’s conversation. Yau describes Harms’s inclusion as a useful intervention at a school he has regarded as insular. The review does not claim that the exhibition resolves questions about abstraction and figuration; it presents the varied works as a reason to keep those questions open.
A Deliberately Uneven Grouping
Yau says he came to the show already familiar with Goodman and DiBenedetto’s work but knew little about Harms. The exhibition announcement prompted him to ask whether there was a formal connection among the three painters. With 14 works by the two established New York artists and three by Harms, the arrangement gave each artist unequal space and, in Yau’s account, resisted easy comparison.
The show occupies two galleries expanded after recent renovations at the New York Studio School. Yau frames the selection as an off-kilter alternative to a more strictly scholarly grouping. The source does not provide the exhibition’s opening or closing dates, visitor figures, or details about any related public programming.
“pain and sadness”
— Brenda Goodman, as quoted in John Yau’s review
Dates and Broader Response Unreported
The source material does not state when “This Heat” opened or how long it will remain on view. It also offers no attendance figures, responses from the artists or school, or broader critical reception. Yau’s account is one reviewer’s assessment; the report does not establish how other visitors interpret the works or the grouping.
Visitors Can Weigh the Pairing
Readers can visit the New York Studio School’s exhibition information for current viewing dates and any related events; those details are not included in the source material. The next public marker identified here is the review itself, published by Hyperallergic on September 30, 2026. No additional exhibition announcements or future developments were reported.
Key Questions
What is “This Heat”?
It is an exhibition of 17 works by Brenda Goodman, Steve DiBenedetto and Bendix Harms at the New York Studio School, curated by Jacob Brooks.
How are the works divided among the artists?
The exhibition includes seven works each by Goodman and DiBenedetto and three by Harms.
What did John Yau say about the grouping?
Yau wrote that direct comparison among the artists led to a dead end, but that the uneven grouping made him shift focus and look at the work in new ways.
What is known about Bendix Harms?
Yau describes Harms as a 59-year-old German artist living on a remote farm in northern Denmark. The exhibition brochure says he draws on his immediate circumstances and paints directly on canvas with a palette knife.
When can visitors see the exhibition?
The source material does not give the exhibition dates. Visitors should check the New York Studio School’s current listing for availability.
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