NEW YORK, NY -November 4, 2010- Tria Gallery presents
identity featuring paintings by Kelly Mudge, encaustic mixed media
works by Marybeth Rothman, and sculpture by Kathy Stecko.
Exploring
aspects of personality, behavior, sociology and the psyche, the works in
identity use different media and styles to challenge
preconceptions of beauty and humanity. In their own way, Mudge, Rothman
and Stecko each probe below the surface of their subjects to expose the reality
beneath. In so doing they are all able to capture personalities, hopes,
dreams, fears, anxieties and insecurities. In the single instant depicted
in a painting or sculpture, much is revealed on an outward physical level as
well as on an inner psychological one. The viewer shares - perhaps with a
touch of voyeurism - an intimate moment, a very human one, and receives a brief
insight into the subjects' true identities.
Kelly Mudge has been working in the art
world for the past decade. Her work has been shown in several New York
galleries including Tria, Heist, Allen Sheppard and The Drawing Center.
She recently received the Ruth and Harold Chenven Foundation grant for her
Lost Boys of the Sudan portrait series. Of her work in
identity Mudge states:
The viewer can become intimately
acquainted with the subject on an emotional, intellectual and moral level.
Anatomical incorrectness with impossible scenery combine to create a
mythological symbolism individual to each subject...a subtle tension is created
on each surface and the viewer is invited to interpret what is clearly stated,
and what remains to be said...
Mudge received her BFA
in Painting from Pratt Institute. After residing in Brooklyn, she,
her husband and her English bulldog have moved to California.
Marybeth
Rothman uses vintage photographs as the foundation and inspiration for
her encaustic mixed media paintings. She deconstructs the images to create
moving, figurative images through a fusion of encaustic, paint, graphite
drawings and solar plate etchings. Her work in
identity consists of strong, compelling images that
"unravel a fleeting moment, defined by time and circumstance." She
explains:
My work is a journal of human contact about strangers,
juxtaposing the figure with an abstract form or other echoing counterpart.
My collection of thousands of orphaned, vintage photographs is the catalyst for
my paintings... I am intrigued by the conflicting, reciprocal, and
parallel relationships of people, objects and environment in a photographic
image.
Rothman earned her BFA
from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her work has been shown in dozens
of solo and group exhibits across the country, and she is the recipient of
numerous honors and awards for her work in encaustics.
Kathy Stecko's work
consists largely of figurative constructions that use the body as metaphor.
Her work in identity is a series of wall-mounted
sculptures (in addition to a larger, free-standing piece) that explores the idea
of cause and effect relationships. She uses her everyday experiences, both
ordinary and not-so-ordinary, as catalysts for her work.
I draw from the experiences we all share: loss,
isolation, and the desire to believe in something larger than one's self.
The idea that a sequence of events can create a domino effect is essential to my
work, which, designed like a scroll, unfolds as a narrative as the figures
relate, react and respond to one another...
Stecko
received her MFA from the New York Academy of Art, and her BA from the
University of Michigan. She teaches at Pratt and lives and works in
Brooklyn.
