New York-based painter Jennifer Packer redefines historical portraiture, combining observation, improvisation, and memory to produce works that possess a casual authenticity. She is known for painting friends, family members, and still lifes of flowers. “I think about images that resist, that attempt to retain their secrets or maintain their composure, that put you to work,” she once explained. Packer often paints in response to the institutional racism set against Black Americans, and her works are executed with rough, warm brushstrokes that reverberate emotion. This is her largest solo show to date. —E.C