Curator / Julie Alexander

The Edge and a Little Beyond:
Six Abstract Artists

Valerie Brennan
Jamie Powell
Lorri Ott
Julie Torres
Susan Scott
Maria Walker

September 05 – 28, 2013
Reception / Thursday, September 05, 6–8pm

Gallery Talk / Thursday, September 19, 6–7pm
Please join Julie Alexander, curator, at SOIL for a gallery discussion about the dynamic work presented in The Edge and a Little Beyond.

The Edge and a Little Beyond: Six Abstract Artists curated by Julie Alexander, brings together six abstract artists whose work pushes out the edge of the painting, playing with the basic structure of wood supports and stretched canvas.

Valerie Brennan's thick, trowelled surfaces lap the edge of her painted panels, expanding the space of the painting beyond its support. Jamie Powell cuts shapes from her canvases that reference childhood cartoons. Lorri Ott often forgoes the painting support all together, binding color and debris with poured resin. Julie Torres builds the painted object with insistent layers, often creating a meta-object. Susan Scott and Maria Walker take apart and reassemble the basic structure of painting, sometimes leaving it in a heap. The work, verging on sculpture, clearly comes from a painter's mind.

These six artists, through abstraction, both work within and challenge the perimeter of the painting, pushing beyond the boundary and entering the viewer's space. They do it with a personal mark-making that values joy and uncertainty.

Press:
SHIFT, August 2013
The Curating Contemporary Blog, September 7, 2013
Painters' Table, September 11, 2013