Pace Prints is pleased to announce, Downforce, an exhibition of 16 new collages on panel by Brooklyn-based artist Michael Kagan, on view from March 21–April 26, 2025, at 536 West 22nd Street. An opening reception will be held at the gallery on Thursday, March 20 from 6-8pm. 

Known for his highly gestural and decisively detailed paintings, Kagan’s work seeks to capture the individuals and technologies that push the limits of what is physically possible. Fittingly, for his first solo exhibition with Pace Prints, Kagan has continued his recent focus on imagery from the high-octane world of Formula One racing. 

An international phenomenon and considered the pinnacle of global motor sports, Formula One is distinguished by its intensity – the cars are the fastest, the drivers are the most talented, and the stakes are the highest. Drivers face not only the pressures to win, but the extreme physical demands and risks that go along with maneuvering the most aerodynamic and precisely engineered racing vehicles at over 200 m.p.h. 

The show’s title, Downforce, invokes the core aerodynamic force that F1 cars exploit to achieve their astounding speeds. This force creates downward pressure on a driver up to five times their own body weight and directly determines how well a car grips the track at top speeds. How much force a driver is able to withstand, and control, can mean the difference between winning and losing. 

To create these works, Kagan worked for over 2 years with the team of printers at Pace Prints, establishing a multi-process printmaking technique that utilizes hand-painted and squeegeed monoprints, which were then cut by hand and incorporated into highly detailed collages. 

Representational from a distance, yet abstract and painterly up close, these large- and small-scale collages present dizzying textures and electric swaths of color, creating visually tantalizing effects, and establishing their own unique place in Kagan’s overarching artistic practice. 

Iconic moments from the history of Formula One are presented throughout the exhibition—both the euphoric and the catastrophic. Lewis Hamilton’s emotional body language after having won his first Grand Prix title in Global Player is contrasted by the fiery impact of Moving Through Time and Space, depicting the collision of Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc at the Belgian Grand Prix. Throughout this body of work, Kagan directly contends with the urge to pursue the extremes of human experience and achievement. 

For the exhibition, Kagan has created immediately recognizable portraits of some of F1’s most famous drivers, without having to remove their helmets. The colors and sponsorship logos on each driver’s uniform are as identifiable as facial features for fans of the sport. The Ferrari red of The Protagonist (night) could only be Kimi Räikkönen, while the blues and greens of Driver identify the legendary Fernando Alonso. 

Simultaneously, the visored anonymity of each figure elevates these athletes into the realm of the super heroic. The Champion exemplifies this valiant quality, depicting four-time consecutive Formula One Champion Max Verstappen celebrating his victory. The works recall the lionization of ancient bust portraiture and allow for the body language, color, and context of each image to convey the raw emotional content of the work—resonating with even those who might be unfamiliar with the sport.