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This Heat brings together 17 works by Brenda Goodman, Steve DiBenedetto and Bendix Harms at the New York Studio School. In a September 30 review, John Yau says the artists resist easy comparison and that the unusual grouping unsettles expectations about how their paintings relate.
John Yau’s September 30 review examines This Heat, a 17-work exhibition by Brenda Goodman, Steve DiBenedetto and Bendix Harms at the New York Studio School. Curated by Jacob Brooks, the show’s unusual grouping prompted Yau to reconsider how the artists’ paintings relate; Harms’s work was new to him, while he had followed Goodman and DiBenedetto for years.
The exhibition occupies two galleries, which the report says are now twice their previous size following renovations. Of the 17 works, three are by Harms; Goodman and DiBenedetto contribute seven each. Yau describes the imbalance as a reason to shift attention repeatedly between the artists, rather than treating the show as a neatly balanced comparison.
Yau says he concluded that directly comparing the artists was a dead end. Instead, he considers what each body of work does on its own and how their differences shape the experience of seeing them together. He describes the grouping as “off-kilter and unscholarly,” and says that quality pushed him beyond his expectations for the exhibition.
Among the works discussed are Harms’s Tears of No Return (2020), Goodman’s Mounting Thoughts (2024) and DiBenedetto’s Isotope Plus (2026). The article describes Harms’s painting as a brightly colored, grotesque scene with birds, a cat and a crying face; Goodman’s as an opaque, unsettling arrangement of forms; and DiBenedetto’s as a large, multi-limbed form against a blue ground. Those readings are Yau’s interpretations of the paintings.
An Unusual Pairing Shifts the View
For readers interested in contemporary painting and exhibition-making, Yau’s review makes the curatorial arrangement itself part of the story. Goodman and DiBenedetto are longtime figures in the New York art world, while Harms is a German artist living on a remote farm in northern Denmark, according to the article. Placing them together brings a less familiar artist into a setting Yau describes as potentially insular.
The exhibition does not need to establish a shared style to make the grouping meaningful. Yau sees humor, discomfort and movement between abstraction and recognizable forms across the artists’ work, but stresses that these qualities emerge differently in each. His review suggests that the show’s value lies partly in the challenge of looking without forcing a single explanation onto all three artists.
Three Distinct Painting Practices
Yau frames Goodman and DiBenedetto through a longstanding dialogue in contemporary art between abstraction and figuration, and between opacity and transparency. He writes that neither artist has settled into a fixed signature style. The exhibition includes work by Goodman made from 2020 to 2026, including paintings and a small work on paper; her titles include Covid 3, Covid 5 and Not That Again.
The report says Goodman has described her work as being about “pain and sadness.” Yau reads her paintings as rooted in personal experience without becoming straightforward narratives. For Harms, the exhibition brochure by curator Jacob Brooks states that he is inspired by his immediate circumstances and paints directly on canvas with a palette knife. Yau says he learned this after seeing the work, rather than arriving with prior knowledge of the artist.
DiBenedetto’s seven works include Isotope Plus, dated 2026 and identified as the largest painting in the show. Yau connects it to the artist’s long-running interest in octopuses. The review characterizes DiBenedetto’s imagery as process-driven and difficult to name, with a mixture of grotesque and comic elements.
““off-kilter and unscholarly””
— John Yau, reviewing This Heat
Exhibition Dates and Response
The source material does not state the exhibition’s opening or closing dates, visitor numbers, or whether the school has reported a public response. It also does not describe the full contents of every work or provide comments from the artists or curator beyond details Yau attributes to the exhibition brochure and Goodman. The review offers one critic’s interpretation; it does not establish that the artists share a formal connection or common intention.
Further Details Remain Unreported
The article provides no scheduled talks, closing date or other upcoming exhibition events. Readers seeking practical visit information will need to consult the New York Studio School’s current listings. The review’s immediate contribution is its account of how the 17 works function as a group, while leaving the artists’ own views on the pairing unreported.
Key Questions
What is This Heat?
It is a 17-work exhibition at the New York Studio School featuring paintings by Brenda Goodman, Steve DiBenedetto and Bendix Harms. Jacob Brooks curated the show.
How many works does each artist have in the exhibition?
According to John Yau’s review, Harms has three works, while Goodman and DiBenedetto have seven each.
What did John Yau find unusual about the show?
Yau says the grouping joins two artists he has followed for years with Harms, whose work was new to him. He found the imbalance in the number of works and the artists’ differences made direct comparison difficult.
When can visitors see the exhibition?
The source report does not give the exhibition dates. Check the New York Studio School’s current listings for visit information.
Source: rss
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