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"Be a good
craftsman; it won't stop you from being a genius." -Pierre-Auguste
Renoir
Lyons Wier Gallery is proud
to present Bathers by Mary Henderson.
Bathers, is Henderson's newest group of
hyper-real sociological oil paintings derived from found web images, focusing on
a particular cultural experience - in this case, the 'summer retreat'. Her
paintings are based on vacation photos and snapshots of Americans engaged in the
long-standing, class-specific summer ritual of departing the city and suburbs
for shore and lake houses during the summer season. The images explore the
contradictory nature of these escapes - both their sensory pleasures and their
accompanying feelings of isolation, dislocation and wistfulness.
Henderson's bathers are based
primarily on images that have been posted on photo-sharing websites. The artist
composites, re-crops and refocuses them, using the altered digital image as the
paintings' modulo (using personal supplementary life references as necessary).
The artist states, "I find that, through the transformative act of painting, an
image can be stilled and changed into something more archetypal: it ceases to be
simply about the particular person or fleeting moment captured, and becomes
instead something more public, permanent and aesthetically deliberate."
As the title suggests, this
series is in part homage to the late-19th-century Impressionist and
Neo-Impressionist painting theme of bathers, particularly as explored in the
works of Manet, Seurat and Monet. Being drawn to their uneasy balance of
modernity and nostalgia, these paintings reflected a complex and contradictory
attitude toward urban society and fashionable resort life, keenly depicting the
social changes that made the sea-bathing fad possible, while, at the same time,
reaching longingly back to classical themes of the nude in an idyllic
landscape.
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Dock, Oil on panel, 30 x 30 in / 76.2 x 76.2 cm
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In their depiction of a
contemporary version of the seaside retreat, Henderson's paintings also reflect
a deep ambivalence toward their subject. The artist communicates a strong sense
of affection and nostalgia for the pleasures of these rituals, for their moments
of beauty and physical pleasure, while also conveying a sense of general malaise
and anxiety that come with routinized periods of leisure- the sense of always
chasing after an experience that never quite lives up to expectations.
Mary Henderson
received her AB in Fine Arts in 1995 from Amherst College in Amherst, MA, and
her MFA in Painting
in 2001 from the University of Pennsylvania in
Philadelphia, PA. Recent exhibitions include:
"Mirror
Mirror: Contemporary Portraits and the Fugitive Self," The Museum of Art, Brigham
Young University, Provo, UT and "As Others See Us,"
Brattleboro
Museum, VT.
Mary Henderson
lives and works in Philadelphia, PA and has been represented by Lyons Wier
Gallery since 2006.
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Currently on View through May 7th: Vadis Turner, Burial
Party
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Ripe Dirt/Fresh Burial, 2011, Ribbon, clothing, antique
quilts, mixed media, 60 x 60 in / 152.4 x 152.4 cm
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Vadis Turner,
Burial Party, on now through May 7th.
In the broadest sense, "Burial Party" is a deluge of ideas woven
onto canvases and sculpture that address mortal concerns of existence and the
experiences forged while contemplating the rites of passage.
Ms.
Turner's work is an intersection where color theory, abstraction, assemblage
and feminism meet head on. The artist's innate color sensibilities and energy
pay homage to the New York School of Abstract Expressionist and Action
painters like Joan Mitchell and Willem De Kooning, by employing broad strokes
of color. Through Ms. Turner's exquisite and unique use of materials such as
ribbon, clothing, antique quilts, lace and yarn, the artist continues to
explore and exploit traditional "feminine" materials and creates a contemporary
dialogue as found in the works of artists such as Petah Coyne and Shinique
Smith.
For more information and images, please
contact:
Lyons Wier Gallery
542 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011
Phone: (212)242-6220
gallery@lyonswiergallery.com
www.lyonswiergallery.com
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