NY1867 by Jennifer Sanchez
8"x8" ($24) | 11"x11" ($60) | 16"x16" ($240) | 20"x20" ($600) | 30"x30" ($2400)

Collect this edition

Do you dream in color? Because we’ve got some rich REM cycle fodder for you, thanks to longtime 20x200 artist Jennifer Sanchez's new limited-edition print. The release timing is pretty synchronous too—color is making its much ‘grammed annual comeback in the local flora and fauna (people breaking out their spring wardrobes definitely counts toward said fauna). Looking around the city, there’s so much magic and energy in the mash up of colors and textures. Sanchez’s NY1867 has a similar energy, and makes us seriously question why we’re ever scared of color when it’s so awfully inviting.

The NYC artist’s 14th (!) 20x200 edition, NY1867 is an absorbing eyeful of characteristically over-the-top exuberance. In her more recent work, Sanchez has been focussed on tightly gridded geometric patterns that fill the frame, layered and overlapping, each bringing its own bright color combination head to head with another in the festively frenetic mix of things. The acrylic she used to paint the patterns in NY1867 adds textural interest on top of it all, something that comes across even more marvelously in the larger sizes. And we’d be remiss not to mention one clever detail: the ombre fade of those watermelon-reminiscent shapes at right. All together, the puzzle-like component parts—some graphic, some more nebulous around their edges—seem drawn to the epicenter of the image, colliding ecstatically along the way. The effect is exhilarating and electric, packing a vibrant punch that’s positively gleeful in its unabashed clashing.

To put it simply, Sanchez’s pieces have passion. There’s a liveliness that radiates out of NY1867, a lesson in just going for it, in bravery, authenticity, and experimentation. Sanchez actually turns her canvases topsy turvy at some unfixed point in the painting process, orienting them one way for six days or six months, then switching it up on herself. This deliberate about-face is part of a practice of play that keeps her perspective fresh and her work seriously spirited.

A Sanchez print takes on a life of its own once it’s out in the wild, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. “It’s my baby when I’m making it,” the artist told us, “but when it's in other people’s hands it’s up to them.” Hang NY1867 any which way you like—Sanchez doesn't think there's a true top or bottom to her pieces. Nestle it in a salon wall cloud of whatever hues you gravitate towards, or treat yourself to a mega-sized version for pattern packed statement-making. As an endlessly adaptable test of self-expression, NY1867 passes with flying colors.