Leon Golub: Bite Your Tongue

This survey exhibition of the American figurative painter highlights key aspects of Leon Golub’s oeuvre from the 1950s until his death in 2004. Throughout his career Golub was guided by the idea that art should be socially relevant. His works are profoundly psychological and evocative – often painted on a huge scale – and return again and again to themes of oppression, violence and the misuse of power.

This is the first meaningful review of this artist, after his death in 2004. It includes key pieces, which range from the 1950’s to the last decade of the twentieth century. The work of Leon Golub (Chicago, 1922-2004) addresses topics of violence and oppression to express and oppositional stance to inequality and power abuse. As a figurative postwar painter, Golub considered art should be relevant to its period and be profoundly rooted to humanity’s collective experience.

Golub’s paintings examine the reality of a global contemporary existence. Viewed from the context of today’s alarming international events, his work is a universal and visionary indication of our fragile and turbulent times. “Leon Golub: Bite Your Tongue” is an exhibition organized in collaboration with London’s Serpentine Galleries. It includes almost 50 pieces, from large-format paintings to drawings, which represent various periods of the artist’s production.