Expensive Attention: The Slow Looking Tradition in Art
In a moment where visual culture is driven by speed—by—swipe, scroll, algorithm, and spectacle, Expensive Attention invites viewers to slow down. To look again. To listen, materially, to what art, and painting specifically, can still do. Across four gallery spaces at the Saint Kate-the Arts Hotel, this exhibition brings together artists working in direct opposition to a distracted age. These works are not made to keep up; they are made to linger on in our imaginations.
Featuring monotypes by Olivia Hiester, an immersive installation by Blake O’Brien, sumi ink drawings by Francie Cook, and a film by Nick Cajori, this cycle also includes the group show Imagined Landscapes, with paintings by Tucker Love, Liam Murphy-Torres, and Sutton Allen. Together, these artists share a commitment to making slow, thoughtful, embodied work—painting against the tide of quick content and digital sheen.
Attention is the medium in this cycle of shows. Materials matter: oil paint, ink, paper, wood, and cloth. These are works with weight. You can almost feel the residue of the turpentine and smell the linseed oil. The surfaces are not flat screens—they're built up, scraped down, lived with. The image isn’t delivered; it’s uncovered, worked for, hard-won. Across figuration and abstraction, installation and cinema, these artists ask something rare of us: presence. Not just to see the work, but to meet it. To take time. To sit with what doesn’t explain itself right away. Because when information is cheap, attention is expensive.
Marks that Endure: Excerpts from the New York Studio School Lecture Series, with Accompanying Ink Drawings
by Francie Cook
“Marks That Endure” features excerpts from the New York Studio School Lecture Series, where scholars delve into the life, philosophy, and work of masters such as Donatello, Soutine, and Cézanne. These lectures, led by Stanley Lewis, Esti Dunow, and Norman Turner, offer an intimate look at the timeless nature of artistic devotion—artists who were not only obsessed with their craft but whose work seemed to exist outside the constraints of time. The discussions reveal the deeper essence of what it means to live and work as an artist, tied to a divine calling and driven by an intense reverence for the physical and spiritual act of creating. There is also a layer of realness and humor in these conversations, shedding light on the behind-the-scenes world of art-making. The speakers not only discuss the technical mastery and philosophy of these great figures, but also the messy, often humorous realities of being in the studio, struggling with the complexities of artistic life. It’s a celebration of the raw, unvarnished experience of living as an artist—fascinating and deeply human.
Francie Cook’s ink drawings offer a lively counterpoint to these discussions. These works are immediate, honest, and unafraid of the fleeting nature of their creation. And yet, even in their immediacy, they benefit from—and indeed demand slow looking. The rawness and freshness of the marks compel the viewer to pause, to see the drawing not just for its speed but for the depth and meaning that emerge with sustained attention. In this way, the ink drawings offer a different meditation on the act of creation, one that balances urgency with a moment of reflection. This contrast offers a refreshing contrast to the more layered and methodical work seen in the main gallery, where the slow accumulation of layers is readily felt.
In a time when visual culture often demands speed and instant gratification, “Marks That Endure” invites the viewer to slow down, to look and listen with care. The exhibition emphasizes that both the rapid and the deliberate act of creation have something profound to offer. Together, these works urge us to meet art on its own terms—whether through immediate, bold gestures or the careful unfolding of layers—and to embrace the act of seeing slowly, deeply, and with reverence.
The New York Studio School is a historied art academy located in Greenwich Village in New York City. Francie Cook is a painter based in New York City. Her work is characterized by an immediate, loose, painterly application of ink, charcoal, and paint, with a focus on the materiality of the medium. Cook captures tender, quiet moments with curiosity and joy. She has studied at the New York Studio School and the Art Students League of New York and has exhibited in the U.S. and Europe. In 2025, she founded the Francis Cook Gallery
