Petzel Gallery is thrilled to debut six new oil paintings by Mérida and New York-based artist Jorge Pardo at the inaugural ADAA Fair, opening to the public on November 13, 2026, with a Preview Gala on November 12.

Jorge Pardo uses a procedural approach to painting that he has developed over the past half decade, referring to his output as “artworks to think with.” His compositions are first created digitally, overlapping personal photographs with far-spanning art historical sources until the layers are nearly unrecognizable. The new paintings fuse images of artworks by Johannes Vermeer, Felix Gonz.lez Torres, and Raymond Pettibon, resulting in nonhierarchical amalgamations of images and unexpected visual dialogues. The artist’s connection to his subjects is loose and relational. While Pardo shares Vermeer’s mastery of light, Cuban heritage with Gonz.lez Torres, and a connection to Pettibon rooted in the 1990s Los Angeles art scene, ultimately these images are used as starting points for broader inquiries into how we aesthetically perceive and emotionally sentimentalize painting.

Pardo’s digital abstractions undergo further transformation as they take physical form. With renderings complete, the artwork’s vectorized outlines are laser etched onto canvas. Each surface is then hand-painted with oil pencils using bright, effervescent palettes of marigold yellows, pearlescent blues, and avocado greens. Through this process of translation, interpretative gestures and incidental mark making disrupt the logic of the original compositions, allowing the paintings to take on a life of their own.

About Jorge Pardo

Jorge Pardo (b. 1963, Havana, Cuba) studied at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and received his BFA from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions including SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, (2023); Museum of Art & Design, Miami (2021); Pinacoteca de Estado S.o Paulo, S.o Paulo (2019); Mus.e des Augustins, Toulouse (2014); Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2010); K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (2009); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2008); and Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami (2007). Paintings by the artist were included in the 57th Venice Biennale (2017).

Pardo’s practice extends to architecture and large-scale public projects, including Tecoh (2010), an immersive architectural environment within a 17th-century hacienda on Mexico’s Yucat.n Peninsula, and his 2018 redesign of the historic H.tel Arlatan in Arles, France, which incorporates custom furnishings, lighting, and vibrant mosaics throughout the building.