TEMPORAL ESCAPE
Curated by Megan Green and Jenny Mushkin Goldman
Presented by 326 Gallery at 326 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY
August 9th - September 13, 2018
326 Gallery is pleased to present Temporal Escape, curated by Megan Green and Jenny Mushkin Goldman. Temporal Escape includes works by Chellis Baird, Hannah Rose Dumes, Victoria Manganiello, Beatrice Modisett, Livia Mourao, Alexandra Seiler, Barbara Sinclair, Yana Ushakova, and Mie Yim.
The Denver Art Museum’s show Women of Abstract Expressionism in 2016 highlighted women artists who were seen as collateral by their male counterparts. Their impact in the 1940s and 1950s on the trajectory of art history has been undervalued and underappreciated. While it seems unnecessary to set apart artists by gender in our post-modern society, it is still critical to celebrate the influence of early pioneers, such as Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, and Mary Abbott, on subsequent generations of female artists.
The artworks presented are charged with female energy, emanating in part from sensuous depictions of female bodies. The more figurative components in Yana Ushakova’s otherwise abstract paintings, such as a nipple emerging from the fleshy composition or forms reminiscent of female genitalia, seem to allude to the discovery of suppressed sexuality. Chellis Baird’s sensual works Woman I and Woman II subtly portray womanly forms from organic materials, such as wood, wax, and fabric, which are traditionally associated with women’s work. Similarly, conventional craft materials play a key role in the lyrical gestures of Victoria Manganiello, who uses a traditional loom to create her soft, abstract compositions from hand-spun yarn.
Dumes, Sinclair, and Yim’s works balance allusions to the real world with structured elements and improvisations. In her soft-edged work, Bacchus, Mie Yim creates an intoxicating and mysterious world of snaking, tubular structures and chromatic planes. Barbara Sinclair’s dynamic mixed-media works are cathartic expressions of her internal world, composed of frenetic painterly gestures, esoteric text scribbles, and the collaging of objects such as old photographs, product packaging, and newspaper clippings. Meanwhile, Hannah Rose Dumes’s abstract work “Gussie” references objects like a popsicle, a mirror, or a hand while maintaining the enigmatic quality of abstraction.
A bolder energy is reflected through depictions of environments from female perspectives rendered in a dynamic palette. Beatrice Modisett has a thirst for exploring new landscapes and perspectives informed by her interest in the subtleties of geological phenomenon. Through exuberant gestures and layering of vibrant color, Livia Mourao’s paintings convey light, motion, and temperature to encapsulate the essence of fleeting sensations and emotions. Alexandra Seiler’s bold yet playful, hard-edge abstractions are created from imagery of her urban environments, which she deconstructs and rebuilds digitally before rendering the final composition in acrylic on canvas.
The artists featured in this exhibition are continuing the discourse of their forebearers by putting forth their individual yet distinctly feminine gestures. Despite the differences in style and palette, these works all represent expressive freedom and sensual beauty in a time when we can all use a temporal escape.