Acute Blue

The New Gallery is pleased to present Acute Blue, a solo exhibition of new work by New York–based Cuban artist and color theorist Lino Bernabe. On view February 16–18, the exhibition opens with a reception on Friday, February 16, from 6:30 to 10:30 PM at 127 Tompkins Avenue in Brooklyn.

Acute Blue features a series of 4×4 canvases from Bernabe’s ongoing Morphology Studies, a body of work that investigates optics, visual perception, and the physics of light. Bernabe uses light itself as a medium, placing color relationships in dynamic dialogue with the surrounding environment. The resulting works immerse the viewer in shifting interactions of form, pigment, and illumination.

Highlights of the exhibition include Color Study (Geo) and Blue Study, where simultaneous contrast reveals the subtle interplay between pigments and the influence colors exert on one another. In Bernabe’s practice, gallery lighting is elevated from mere support to an active component of the work—transforming the space into an arena where perception and form are in constant flux.

The title Acute Blue reflects both the sharp-angled geometries that emerge under blue light and the exhibition’s broader meditation on our contemporary relationship to color. In an era defined by screens and RGB, Bernabe positions blue light as both subject and metaphor, proposing a new chapter in color theory that is as much about technology as it is about tradition.

Born in South Miami to a Cuban family, Bernabe’s obsession with color began early, inspired by the vibrancy of Cuban culture and the saturated palette of the tropics. After earning his BFA at Cooper Union, he shifted from figurative narratives to explorations of geometry, biomorphism, and color interaction. Acute Blue, his second solo exhibition in New York, brings together a decade of research into the mathematics of color values, childhood fascinations, and the physical experience of light.

Far from mere spectacle, Bernabe’s work creates an immersive environment where color and form become inseparable. Canvases hover between painting and experiment, engaging viewers in the act of seeing itself. For the untrained eye, the results may feel like magic; for those attuned to color theory, they mark a daring rethinking of how we perceive and interact with color in the 21st century.