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Art & Culture

Next Big Things: Cynthia Talmadge

The artist approaches all her subject matter with unfathomable depths of research and an equal measure of dark romance

By Jacqueline Terrebonne
Colorful street art with geometric arches and various items scattered on the ground in front of an intricate wall pattern.
Still Life with Trellis, 2019 Photo: COURTESY OF 56 HENRY

Cynthia Talmadge approaches all her subject matters, from a rehab facility to a funeral home, with unfathomable depths of research and an equal measure of dark romance.  

Woman with long curly hair standing against a concrete wall, arms crossed, wearing a checkered shirt. Black and white portrait.
Cynthia Talmadge Photo: MATTHEW LEIFHEIT

Unique process: To exhibit a series of somber, Pointillist works depicting New York’s Frank E. Campbell funeral home, Talmadge collaborated with architect Adam Charlap Hyman to transform the 56 Henry gallery in Chinatown into a set that evoked the solemn discretion of the Upper East Side institution and its deceased celebrity clientele.

Pointillist-style painting of a street scene with trees, an awning, and a building entrance at dusk.
Her Frank E. Campbell (Early Spring), 2019 Photo: COURTESY OF 56 HENRY

Up next: A show with Carl Kostyál in Milan. “It will be snowy Pointillist paintings of Brutalist architecture on the Seven Sisters campuses—very desolate images that try to capture the feeling of being the only person left in the dorms over winter break.” 

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2020 Winter Issue under the headline “Next Big Things.” Subscribe to the magazine.

Click here to see the full list of “Next Big Things.”  

Hourglass on a blue, cloud-filled background with the words "Days of Our Lives" overlaid.
Like Sands Through the Hourglass, 2017 Photo: COURTESY OF 56 HENRY

“I really connect to the way Cynthia captures the aesthetics of melancholy in her work. There is a lightness and a sense of humor tinged with sadness that is very moving to me.”

Adam Charlap Hyman, architect and designer

Nighttime painting of a snow-covered building with bare trees and a visible American flag, under a starry sky.
Frank E. Campbell (Winter Light,) 2020 Photo: COURTESY OF 56 HENRY