KNOXVILLE, TN.-The Knoxville Museum of Art opened the exhibit Size Matters: XS – Recent Small-Scale Painting. The show investigates issues of scale in contemporary painting and features works by many of today's most exceptional established and emerging artists. While vast wall murals and large-scale canvases often draw attention due to their sheer size, the near-miniature proportions of the 42 works in Size Matters: XS represent a new interest among contemporary artists in exploring the expressive possibilities of small-scale painting. Demanding close inspection, smaller works are often the result of a meticulous activity and therefore contain a legibility and intimacy often denied by more expansive approaches.

Size Matters: XS brings together a diverse group of international artists for whom working in minute proportions is an integral part of their respective practices. Abstraction, figuration, photo-realism, and caricature are just a few of the art historical genres reinterpreted by artists in the exhibition. With an average size of approximately one-foot square, these paintings attest to the fact that many artists are producing complex and unconventional statements that are enhanced rather than restricted by the tight confines of the picture plane. Some works call to mind small religious icons used for devotional purposes while others appear to be strikingly informal, highly personal artistic statements. Featuring work produced within the last five years, the exhibition also includes new paintings produced specifically for this exhibition by Thordis Adalsteinsdottir, Andrew Sendor, Aaron Johnson, Ridley Howard, and Skyler Brickley.

Size Matters: XS – Recent Small-Scale Painting is organized by the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art (HVCCA), Peekskill, NY.

Including works by: Thordis Adalsteinsdottir, Justin Allen, Francis Alÿs, Amy Bennett, Michaël Borremans, Skyler Brickley, Guillermo Caivano, Ross Chisholm, Nigel Cooke, Paul Doran, Tim Eitel, Adrian Ghenie, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Ridley Howard, Aaron Johnson, Charles Karubian, Tala Madani, Alex Pollard, Ulf Puder, Clare Rojas, Serban Savu, Andrew Sendor, Anj Smith, Mathew Weir.