March 28 – May 2, 2026
Opening reception:
March 28, 5-8pm
COOPER COLE, Toronto, Canada
↓ InformationCOOPER COLE is pleased to announce Out of Mind, an exhibition of new paintings by John Riepenhoff. The exhibition brings together a recent body of sky paintings that continue Riepenhoff’s long engagement with the act of looking upward. Rooted in earlier works based on obscured plein air observations of the night sky, these paintings distill accumulated observations of atmosphere, light, and time into intuitive yet systematic constellations of colour and pattern.
For more than a decade, Riepenhoff developed his sky paintings through an unusual process of painting outdoors at night in near darkness. Working under conditions that privileged the subtleties of stars over the surface of the canvas, he would paint continuously until dawn, seeing the finished work clearly only in daylight. This approach allowed the artist to sidestep aesthetic habits and expectations and opened the possibility for discovery within the act of painting itself. Many of the earliest works in the series were produced in the forests of northern Wisconsin, where the absence of artificial light offers exceptional visibility of the night sky.
While the earliest sky paintings described distant constellations and celestial fields, the works in Out of Mind, shift toward more atmospheric systems. Layers of color and subtle shifts in luminosity evoke changing conditions in the sky, including drifting clouds, light pollution, and the diffuse glow of the atmosphere. Composed through a balance of observation and improvisation, the paintings move between abstraction and representation, suggesting both specific moments of perception and broader patterns of natural phenomena.
The title Out of Mind, reflects the exhibition’s central concerns. On one hand, it refers to the generative potential of stillness and idleness, the simple act of gazing at the sky and being lost in ones thoughts. On the other, it points to the heightened awareness of duration that emerges when one becomes attentive to the passage of time. In Riepenhoff’s paintings, time is both subject and material. Each work gathers many moments of observation and condenses them into a suspended present.
The exhibition will also include a sculptural decoy of a great horned owl positioned within the gallery as a companion to the paintings. Associated with nocturnal vision and heightened perception, the owl serves as an intermediary between human observation and the vastness of the night sky. Its presence subtly recalibrates the viewer’s encounter with the works and suggests alternative ways of seeing that extend beyond the limits of human perception.
To learn more about this exhibition, please provide your contact information.
John Riepenhoff
Skies (sora/kū)
Skies (sora/kū), 2026
Acrylic paint, gouache, oil on linen
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John Riepenhoff
Skies (Kanso)
Skies (Kanso), 2026
Acrylic paint, gouache, oil on linen
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John Riepenhoff
Skies (kū)
Skies (kū), 2026
Acrylic paint, gouache, oil on linen
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John Riepenhoff
Skies (mu)
Skies (mu), 2026
Acrylic, gouache, oil on linen
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John Riepenhoff
Skies (zenshû)
Skies (zenshû), 2019-2026
Acrylic paint, gouache, oil, gofun on linen
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John Riepenhoff
Skies (buji)
Skies (buji), 2026
Acrylic paint, gouache, oil, gofun on linen
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John Riepenhoff
Skies (Aetherial)
Skies (Aetherial), 2026
Acrylic paint, gouache, oil, gofun on linen
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John Riepenhoff
Skies (sora)
Skies (sora), 2026
Acrylic paint, gouache, oil on linen
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John Riepenhoff
Skies (Marugame)
Skies (Marugame), 2025
Acrylic paint, gouache, oil on linen
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