SYLVIO LYNCH III
The Elixir
November 6 – December 23, 2026
Reynolds Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of The Elixir, an exhibition of new work by Sylvio Lynch III. Marking the artist’s third solo show with the gallery, the exhibition opens on Friday, November 6, 2026 with a public reception from 5 – 7 pm. The show runs through December 23rd .
Over the last several years, Lynch has spent increasingly concentrated periods creating abstract works on paper. The works in this exhibition emerged from a period marked by grief, global strife, and national uncertainty, but they are not intended as expressions of sadness. Instead, Lynch describes the works as “solvent—the elixir,” using the physical act of making as a way to move through difficult moments: “Each line, a breath, each a form a comfort, each composition, an excavation of joy.”
For this body of work, Lynch leaned into a more physical and expansive process. Conscious of his breathing and of the movement of his body across the surface, he moved between light and dark marks. Working on a larger scale than in his previous drawings, with the largest piece measuring approximately three by six feet, Lynch explored dexterity, texture, and expressive movement.
The resulting drawings are immersive fields of texture, depth, and movement. Lynch hopes they are perceived as “triumphant textural forms of breath, depth, beauty and freedom.” Rather than asking the viewer to locate a specific narrative, the works create an immediate sensory experience, one grounded in the physical movement of mark-making, the ritual of breath, and the freedom of expression.
E12, 2026, Graphite on paper, 15 x 12 inches
Artist Statement
What began as a habit noting 1-inch drawings over time evolved into an physical exploration of breathing, line, and emotional resonance.
Each line represents an emotional journey and an expression of time from the lightest touch to the darkest mark, moving, thinking and feeling removed from the context of life events. Each line, a response to each prior. Each form, a moment.
Compressed and regulated emotions distilled, clarified and coveted in value with each line. Each line, a breath. Each a form, a comfort. Each composition, an excavation of joy.
Repetition. Breathing. Movement. Texture.
The Elixir.
About the Artist
Sylvio Lynch III lives and works in Richmond, Virginia. Lynch has exhibited at Reynolds Gallery, James Wise Gallery, Glave Kocen, and UMBRELLA 2.0/Monochrome Collective in Washington, D.C., with solo exhibitions at Reynolds Gallery in 2020 and 2023. His public art and illustration projects include commissions for Preservation Virginia and the City of Richmond, as well as projects with Hotel Trundle in Columbia, South Carolina, and book illustrations for Tori Explores South Carolina and Tori Finds Colors All Around. Lynch holds a Ph.D. in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University and an M.A. in American Studies from the University of Alabama.
E16, 2026, Graphite on paper, 36 x 60 inches