Yares Art in New York is hosting "SIMILITUDES: Color, Form, Friendship," a landmark exhibition exploring the creative dialogue between American painter Helen Frankenthaler and British sculptor Anthony Caro. Spanning nearly five decades of friendship that began in 1959, the show juxtaposes Frankenthaler’s soak-stained canvases with Caro’s steel armatures. The presentation includes archival letters and photographs that highlight their mutual influence, including a 1972 proposal from Frankenthaler to collaborate on a sculpture.
This exhibition is significant for reframing the history of post-war abstraction as a relational exchange rather than a series of isolated movements. By positioning Frankenthaler’s "sculptural thinking" alongside Caro’s "drawings in space," the show breaks down the traditional boundaries between painting and sculpture. Supported by the artists' respective foundations and curated by Karen Wilkin, the project provides a scholarly look at how personal intellectual bonds can drive formal innovation in Color Field and modernist art.