Signal Interference: Urban Myths in Flux

For Immediate Release

Signal Interference: Urban Myths in Flux

Diana Copperwhite • Gustavo Acosta • Amy Hill • Tanja Selzer • Patrick Neal

29 January - 28 March 2026

Opening Reception: Thursday, 29 January, 17:00 - 20:00

532 Gallery is pleased to announce Signal Interference: Urban Myths in Flux, showcasing new and recent works by Diana Copperwhite, Gustavo Acosta, Amy Hill, Tanja Selzer, and Patrick Neal. This exhibition probes the slippery interface between perception, memory, and constructed realities, weaving intimate abstractions with charged figurations to dissect urban decay, digital tensions, and mythic disruptions in an era of perpetual static.

Diana Copperwhite’s small-scale 2025 series anchors the show with her signature temporal flux — layering squeegee drags, impasto builds, and solvent erasures to evoke psychedelic memory fragments. Nodding to Abstract Expressionist gestures like Joan Mitchell’s autonomy or Willem de Kooning’s raw instinct, her work infuses a digital-poetic edge that’s as elusive as it is magnetic.

Gustavo Acosta’s five small paintings from his Intimate Portrait series (each 14x14 inches, 2025) and the larger The Waterfall’s Manifesto (54x54 inches, 2022) transform bleak cityscapes into subtle rebellions against perceptual numbness. Blending photoreal precision with raw, deliberate drips that recall mid-century modernism, these pieces deliver intellectual bite amid visual poetry, as noted by critic Donald Kuspit for their defiant flashes of color. The manifesto work, depicting a young figure in a powerful elemental setting, stands as a profound counterpoint to urban entropy.

Amy Hill brings figurative subversion, reimagining Venice’s tourism vistas with a Flemish Renaissance glow-up infused by Botticelli’s ethereal grace. Her oil paintings juxtapose 15th-century formality — Van Eyck’s precise domesticity — with modern leisure poses, crafting witty tensions between historical gravitas and contemporary whimsy. Employing traditional techniques, Hill positions herself as a fresh voice in recontextualizing Renaissance mastery.

Tanja Selzer’s Afternoon series introduces voyeuristic explorations that blur boundaries between observation and intrusion. Her paintings probe social consequences through ambiguous figurations, inviting viewers to question myths embedded in everyday urban encounters.

Patrick Neal rounds out the dialogue with two 2025 watercolors on paper mounted on panel, drawn from site encounters and reimagined as abstract psychological terrains. In Cacti (24 x 24 inches), an overhead view organizes organic sprawl into formal tension, evoking resilience amid constructed confines — his roving grid interferes with perception, turning mundane flora into mythic symbols of urban endurance. Koi (36 x 24 inches) captures swirling fish in a pond, transporting a cultural artifact from a public park into a colorful tapestry that probes boundaries of place and identity.

About the Artists:

• Diana Copperwhite (b. 1969, Limerick, Ireland) resides between Dublin and London. BA in Fine Art Painting, National College of Art and Design, Dublin; MA in European Fine Art, Winchester School of Art. Key recent exhibitions: CAN Ibiza Art Fair (2025); Onomatopoeia at Flowers Gallery, London (2024); Reflections in a Darker Mirror at 532 Gallery (2023); Residencies: Josef Albers Foundation, Connecticut (2012). Collections: Irish Museum of Modern Art; Limerick City Gallery of Art; National Gallery of Ireland; Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane. Publications: Featured in The Brooklyn Rail review by Robert R. Shane for The Clock Struck Between Time at 532 Gallery (2019); various exhibition catalogs.

• Gustavo Acosta (b. 1958, Havana, Cuba) is Miami-based. Studied at Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro and Higher Institute of Art, Havana. Recent exhibition: XL: This Is Not Another Latino Exhibition at 532 Gallery (2022). Collections: Pérez Art Museum Miami; National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana; Lowe Art Museum; El Museo del Barrio, New York. Publications: Cheerless Cities: Gustavo Acosta’s Paintings by Donald Kuspit, White Hot Magazine (October 2017), reviewing Inventory of Omissions at 532 Gallery; archival papers at Archives of American Art, Smithsonian.

• Amy Hill, a New York native, holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and studied at New York University. Recent solo exhibitions include Light, Shade and Product Placement at Front Room Gallery, Hudson, NY (2025); and Future Presidents at Fortnight Institute, New York (2023). Acquisitions and collections: Philbrook Museum, Tulsa; The Bennet Collection, San Antonio; Beth deWoody, Los Angeles. Publications: Features in New York Magazine, White Hot Magazine, and Chronogram Magazine (2023).

• Tanja Selzer (b. 1970, Idar-Oberstein, Germany) operates from her Berlin studio. She completed studies at the University of Applied Sciences, Department of Design in Hamburg. Group exhibitions: Goethe-Institute Hongkong; Museum der Bildenden Künste Leipzig; Collection Schirm, Berlin; Museum am Dom, Würzburg; Rusche SØR Collection, Berlin/Oelde. Her 2014 solo Meet Me in the Trees at 532 Gallery Thomas Jaeckel, New York, received acclaim, including a review in Artpulse by Jeff Edwards, essays by Tina Sauerländer (‘The Associative Rifts in Reality’) and Harald Krämer (‘Meet me in the trees — Tanja Selzer in the Thicket of Abstractions’).

• Patrick Neal (b. 1966, Troy, NY) works out of New York. MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University School of Art; attended New York Studio School, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Yale Summer School of Art. Recent recognition: 2018 NYFA Artist Fellowship. Publications: Freelance art writing for Hyperallergic and Two Coats of Paint. Upcoming: Visiting artist at the Webb School, Knoxville, TN this winter.

Founded in New York in 2008 and expanding to Basel in 2025, 532 Gallery bridges transatlantic currents with a selection of artists who probe cultural norms with thematic depth. From urban myth-busters to digital disruptors, contemporary tensions unpack with intellectual bite and visual wit, fostering dialogues that span continents. Visit us at 121 Hammerstrasse, 4057 Basel, CH. For media inquiries or acquisitions: info@532gallery.com | www.532gallery.com