Tim Kent: Sojourn at Hollis Taggart

Gypsy, (2026). Image by Tetiana Nikolaenko.

By KEN KRANTZ September 17th, 2026

Tim Kent is, famously, the master of enfilade* imagery in contemporary oil painting. His newest show, Sojourn at Hollis Taggart in New York, pushes his perfected visual layering technique further to interpret scenes of imaginative opulence. Throughout the gallery, Kent presents luxurious, richly hued interiors as spaces of envisioned rest, populating these grandeur-filled rooms with figures with whom he shares deep personal connections. In Passy (2026), his wife reclines in bed. In Gypsy (2026), Hungarian digital artist Viola Lukács settles on a stool, anchoring the surrounding visual volume in the comforting familiarity of the human portrait.

Kent summarizes the emotional core of the series as “places I’d like to go and the people I’d like to be there with.” 

However, works like Mayfair (2026) bring nuance to the formula. Set within the lobby of the iconic Hôtel Mayfair Paris, a foregrounded figure sits obscured in shadow, while the canvas's central focal point belongs to laborers on ladders, carefully arranging decorations.

Mayfair (2026). Image by Tetiana Nikolaenko.

Instead of offering a frothy depiction of transient guests who pass through without ever truly touching a space's contours, Kent iconizes 19th-century Haussmannian architecture by honoring the individuals most intimately bound to its physical upkeep. Here, the architectural enfilade operates as a visual palimpsest. 

Kent declines to dictate how these compositions should be interpreted, trusting the viewer. As he notes: “If a painting is a good painting, it should speak for itself.” 

Passy (2026). Image by Tetiana Nikolaenko.

Kent is not precious about his work. “I see myself as a laborer,” he explains. “I am in the studio from 5 AM to 7 PM every day.” Merging rigorous research in visual archives with the physicality of a grueling studio practice, Kent construes a distinctly grounded authenticity in the aspirational environments he paints. 

Sojourn opens a passageway into spaces where opulence and human effort coexist. Kent’s technical mastery reframes lavish interiors as fantasies within reach. To see the show is to share in the quiet rest, center-frame.

*Enfilade, from the French term enfiler, “to thread,” is the architectural term for a row of rooms with aligned doorways or the military term for gunfire aimed down the longest axis of an opposing force. In a painting, the structural arrangement creates a layered sense of depth, pulling the viewer's eye through successive doorways, archways, and reflections.