To the Studio, a three-person exhibition at JJ Murphy Gallery in LES brings together paintings by Elisa Jensen, John Lees, and Liam Murphy-Torres, whose works collectively explore shared traditions of observation, light, and painterly practice. The title is inspired by a series of paintings by Frank Auerbach depicting a view of three artists’ studios, but also alludes to the New York Studio as an institution, tying them together. Both Jensen and Lees have been professors of Murphy-Torres at this historic institution.
The exhibition comprises small to medium-sized paintings installed in an intimate, warm gallery space, encouraging meditative reflection. While the works vary in approach and sensibility, they are united by a shared attentiveness to the depiction of light and color, as well as the immediacy and familiarity of the subject matter.
John Lees’s paintings resonate with a deep historical awareness, carrying clear echoes of Frank Auerbach’s physicality of surface and Rembrandt’s sense of light, with an undercurrent of Goya’s darkness. He works his surfaces into a rich texture. The result is built, scraped, and scuffled, sculptural in nature. Dense, tactile layers of paint build an illusion of three-dimensionality and depth, while Naples yellow light illuminates pieces such as Barrymore (My Days in the Sun), 2016, and Old Painter, 2007-10. The interplay of light and matter creates an illusion of emerging figures, barely there, as if a memory. The atmosphere in Old Painter is particularly notable as it turns distinctly haunting, recalling the unease and emotional weight of Goya’s late works. Old Painter, which is possibly a self-portrait, gazes directly at the viewer, his presence both immediate and elusive. Beyond their compelling surfaces, these works are psychologically charged, heavily layered with meaning and emotion, not just paint.
Elisa Jensen’s Mette’s Window, Møn, 2025, greets the viewer with a warm, glowing lamp. This centerpiece is the largest painting in the show, hanging prominently on the gallery’s far wall. It is a quiet showstopper, still and bright. Jensen’s composition is welcoming, yet remarkably simple, like those of Vilhelm Hammershøi except with a much wider color range. Her unexpected use of iridescent paint amplifies the illusion of light, allowing it to flicker on the painting’s surface as one moves about the room. There is an impression of light radiating from beyond the painting, which is something she has in common with Lees.
In the portrait of her daughter, Oona and Curtain, 2025, Jensen’s sensitivity to colors within shadows is especially striking. The figure is softly backlit from a window with a lace curtain behind her. This quiet domestic moment is a richly felt and nuanced painting, with Bonnard’s palette reliving a moment in modernity. Her use of red oxides within the shadows radiates warmth. This particular work has the same calm energy and color interactions as several of Pierre Bonnard’s self-portraits. The viridian green glowing through the window accentuates the interaction of colors within the painting. Jensen is a very skilled colorist, and the evidence is in the ever-changing illusion of depth, movement, and space in her work.
Liam Murphy-Torres draws inspiration from the everyday buzz of New York City life, drawing from the everyday scenes unfolding around him. Subway interiors, moments in Washington Square, and a range of street scenes form the core of his subject matter. His often faceless figures are deeply emotive through gesture and body language. The interaction between figures is supported by dynamic compositions and brilliant, intuitive cropping. There is a subtle kinship with the work of contemporary painter Salman Toor. Murphy-Torres’s work allows a similar type of awkwardness to subjugate his figures, which translates into a magnetic energy within the paintings. His paintings are flagrantly sincere and truthful. He tells a story of what is around him and how he feels about the subject.
Murphy-Torres, a student of both Jensen and Lees, carries on a tradition of painting unique to the New York Studio School, where observation, structure, and painterly exploration are closely intertwined. There are compositional whispers of Philip Guston’s presence lingering in his work, yet done in a traditional palette of the old masters.
The dynamic dialogue between these three artists’ work is a product of JJ Murphy’s keen curatorial eye. The gallery is abuzz with textures and light interactions, and the arrangement pulls you in, starting with Murphy-Torres’s work, then Jensen, and then Lees. This show is a must-see for anyone, especially for a painter influenced by the New York tradition.
Tradition Goes On: To The Studio at JJ Murphy Gallery, 53 Stanton Street
New York, NY 10002. Thursday – Saturday 12 – 6 pm
On view through February 21, 2026.
Featuring work by Elisa Jensen, John Lees, and Liam Murphy-Torres
About the writer: Anna Shukeylo (b. St. Petersburg, Russia) is an artist working and living in the New York Metropolitan area. She graduated from Pratt Institute with her MFA in Painting and from Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with a BFA/Certificate in Painting. Her work has been exhibited throughout New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Indiana, and internationally.