Henry Austin

Henry Austin, (United States, born 1993), 77, 2020, Spray paint on canvas, 90 x 143 inches, Courtesy of the artist 

The abstract paintings of Henry Austin aim to lay bare what it means to him to be alive. He likens the intuitive act of painting to dance, recalling the performative nature of 20th-century action painters.

Similarly, Austin employs spray paint as a medium; for him, it introduces an element of unpredictability into his process and an illusion of control in the final painting.  

Thematically, Austin’s paintings are multivalent. For the artist, each piece is representative of his pursuit of knowing. At times, his work imagines experiences of an afterlife or connects with a time before life. Other pieces explore the painter’s experience as a human being and express the sorrows inherent to the human condition. Austin shared, “I want viewers to experience my paintings as singular objects that contain everything. I want to convey the importance of pluralism. I want my paintings to make an honest attempt to connect with the viewer on a human level.”  

In the painting on view, the number 77 emerges out of spontaneous, red marks. The marks are layered and repeated, creating an energized field of paint and surface, where spray and meaning blur. Austin believes in a number’s potential symbolism and spiritual connotations to others. When a number comes to embody a person, that person’s spirit can manifest anywhere numbers are present. This painting, 77, recalls this experience and speaks about the capacity of numbers to tenderly represent and memorialize a person. 

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“Seemingly made in the heat of the moment, Henry Austin spray paints a whirl of sharp red points that could possibly refer to the very virus that appears to be taking over our air and our space like a very unwelcome tornado.”

- Katherine Bradford, Untitled juror 

EXPLORE MORE ARTWORKS FROM UNTITLED, 2020

PMA Magazine
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Henry Austin
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The abstract paintings of Henry Austin aim to lay bare what it means to him to be alive. He likens the intuitive act of painting to dance, recalling the performative nature of 20th-century action painters.

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Graeme Kennedyuntitled artists