Pocket Review An exhibition pairing paintings by the two artists guides us through the chambers of our own minds and bodies.

October 21, 2026 — 2 min read

Ilana Savdie, "Galactophore" (2026), oil, acrylic, beeswax on canvas stretched on panel (all photos Lakshmi Rivera Amin/ Hyperallergic )

If Chaïm Soutine hangs up carcasses to dry, Ilana Savdie dissects them with surgical precision. Pairing the Jewish Belarusian and Colombian-American artists seems obvious: Soutine wrestled the turmoil of both World Wars onto canvas, and Savdie melts modern life's cacophony into oozing creatures of our own making. Coming face to face with their work, I felt a strange mix of alienation and recognition at once.

It’s odd to stand in a New York City gallery amid these chimeras of two eras roiling with violence and uncertainty.…