Miles McEnery Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of new paintings by Whitney Bedford, on view at 511 West 22nd Street from 14 May through 20 June 2026. The exhibition is accompanied by a digital catalogue with an essay by Aandrea Stang.

Bedford’s ongoing Veduta series, begun in 2019, brings historical painted vistas often taken from male landscape painters of the pre-industrial age into dialogue with contemporary Southern California. The landscape sets the stage, referencing familiar scenes from Camille Pissarro, Paul Klee, Claude Monet, and Vincent van Gogh. Through the layering of floral, cacti, and window motifs, Bedford distinguishes between historical and modern eras, creating a space where the tension between them can reside within a single composition.

In the most recent works, these paintings take the form of sunset-toned grounds over which Bedford introduces neon-hued details specific to Southern California, including mid-century modern architecture and Mexican fan palms. Critic Aandrea Stang has described these forms as “injured, yet quiet and reflective,” their intensity heightened by saturated color. The resulting fiery palette suggests heat and light emanating from within the paintings themselves.

Having lived in Southern California for many years, Bedford maintains a deeply personal connection to the region, shaped in part by firsthand experience of its destructive wildfires. Bedford shares that the paintings “stand as psychological portraits of turbulent times, sirens from the frontline of climate change.” By returning to the historical landscape as a central and recurring theme, one that actively engages a continually shifting contemporary environment, this body of work offers a timely opportunity for reflection on humanity’s influence on the natural world.