"For Michael Hambouz, who builds geometric environments and paints in delicately rendered patterns, it is the thing hiding in plain sight-a snake in the grass, one could say-that signals a confusion of reality. But the paintings are not running or hiding from reality. Instead, Hambouz deploys simplified and recognizable imagery, broken up across a three-dimensional picture plane, to unsettle expectations. This strategy of hiding realities just barely below the surface and using abstraction as a tool of obfuscation arises..."- Laura Phipps, Associate Curator, Whitney Museum of American Art, New American Paintings, Northeast Issue #176, 2025