Bob Thompson and Candida Alvarez

“Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.” Toni Morrison’s words from her renowned novel Beloved resonate throughout Real Monsters in Bold Colors, an exhibition that brings together figurative painter Bob Thompson’s kaleidoscopic reinterpretations of art history with Candida Alvarez’s vibrant abstractions, the latter born from personal memory. At GRAY’s New York space, on view from April 30 through July 3, 2025, the show creates an intergenerational dialogue between Thompson (1937–66) and Alvarez (b. 1955), artists whose use of color and form transcends conventional boundaries to create what Alvarez calls “liberation” in paint.