The Maine-based painter Reggie Burrow Hodges begins every portrait the same way, laying down a matte black ground. Then, with acrylics and pastels, he fills in the walls, clothing, and surrounding scene with luminous color. What is left are featureless Black faces and hands, sometimes bare arms and legs. While some of Hodges’s protagonists are moving—racing over hurdles, dancing—others are in living rooms, sitting in silent contemplation. The rich yet distant quality of his work calls up the imprecision of memory, and the profound impact of one’s environment. Hodges’s first solo exhibition in New York sees over 20 works on display. —E.C.