Cheim & Read presents an exhibition of recent paintings and drawings by Copenhagen-based artist Tal R. For the past two years, Tal R has been drawing women in confined interior spaces – hotel rooms, bedrooms, corridors, in the shower, and in front of mirrors. Though carefully chosen, his subjects are strangers and casual acquaintances. Tal R’s artistic process begins when he asks the women to pose for him: the foundation of his paintings rest on the anxiety of an uncertain exchange. This provides his work with palpable intensity and, as he notes, “awkwardness,” and is further emphasized by his use of saturated color and off-kilter compositions. Altstadt Girl will be on view until February 14, 2015 at Cheim & Read, 547 West 25 Street, New York. photographs by Agnes Fischer