Elyce Abrams “Shaping Forms”
February, 2005
Philadelphia, PA - The Bridgette Mayer Gallery is pleased to present its first solo exhibition of Philadelphia artist Elyce Abrams. “Shaping Forms” will run from February 1 – February 25, 2006 with an opening reception First Friday, February 3rd from 6:00-8:30 p.m. The exhibition will feature a selection of Abrams vibrant new paintings ranging in size from 16 x 20 inches up to 40 x 40 inches. An L.E.D. mixed media installation entitled “to be titled” by Dana Hargrove will also be on view in the Gallery vault room.
Elyce Abrams is a contemporary artist who uses extraordinary pulsating colors and forms in her paintings. She explores her response to the contemporary landscape through the use of an abstract visual vocabulary. This vocabulary includes brilliant, many layered areas of color, the flow patterns of dripped paint, and other organic forms. Experience, emotions and events translate to intense visual experiences in Abrams’ work.
As an artist Abrams is deeply interested in the process of communication and her visual vocabulary had grown in conjunction with an exploration of language. Her past work includes paintings that derive much of their meaning from the shape of letters. These letters, abstracted over time, become loops and circular forms representative of the emotional experiences of connection and separation.
In her new work Abrams has focused more on the communicative properties of paint itself while still maintaining the emotional core of her visual language. She involves herself in the physicality of paint: drips, flows, texture, layering, and the removal of layers. These paintings evolve from a point of unintentional mark-making and the artist’s subsequent response as she negotiates her way through the painting process. The resulting brightly colored forms, often referencing landscape, become a metaphor for the internal emotional struggle of the creative process, a dichotomy of controlled and uncontrolled events.
This exhibition will also include an installation called “to be titled” by Dana Hargrove. Hargrove’s piece is comprised of a set of five wooden houses which hang suspended from the ceiling and illuminate the floor in a variety of colors. Hargrove is investigating the idea of the house as a cultural icon.
Elyce Abrams received her M.F.A. from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 2004 and her B.F.A. from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1996. She also received a B.A. degree in 1996 from Tufts University. Abrams has received awards including an Artist’s Grant from the Vermont Studio Center and an MFA Merit Scholarship from the University of the Arts. This will be the artist’s first solo show with the Bridgette Mayer Gallery. “Shaping Forms” will run through February 25th, 2006. The artist will be present at the opening reception February, 3rd from 6:00-8:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday 11:00 - 5:30 p.m., other days by appointment. For additional information please contact Bridgette Mayer, 215.413.8893 Fax 215.413.2283
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