Study for Einstein's Axion, by 2022 Whitney Biennial artist James Little, features three pattern fields, each representative of a different flow or tempo. The first is a loose triangular pattern; the second is a tightly compacted triangular pattern; the third is a frenetic, slightly kilter pattern. Though the content of the image is abstract, the title offers a clue to the subject matter Little was considering while making the painting. An axion is a hypothetical particle, sought by physicists because it may have something to do with dark matter and Einstein’s unified field theory, which marries the theory of general relativity and electromagnetism. Gravity, electromagnetism, the strong force and the weak force are the fundamental forces of the universe, and seem to operate according to different laws, similar to the visual patterns in Little’s painting.

Little is a 2009 recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award for Painting. In addition to being featured prominently in the 2022 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, NY, his work has been exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions around the world, including at MoMA P.S.1, New York, NY; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR; Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY; St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO; and the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC. Upcoming solo exhibitions include Homecoming: Bittersweet, at Dixon Gallery & Gardens: Art Museum, Memphis, TN, with an accompanying catalogue, and at Kavi Gupta, Chicago, IL, in 2022. In 2022, Little will also participate in a historic collaboration for Duke Ellington's conceptual Sacred Concerts series at the Lincoln Center, New York, NY, with the New York Choral Society at the New School for Social Research and the Schomburg Center in New York, NY. His paintings are represented in the collections of numerous public and private collections, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond; Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; DeMenil Collection in Houston; Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Maatschappij Arti Et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, Holland; Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse; New Jersey State Museum, Trenton; Tennessee State Museum, Nashville; Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock; and Newark Museum, Newark.