February 2015 / Bed Bath & Between
Curators /
Julie Alexander
Nicholas Nyland
Matthew Offenbacher
Bed Bath & Between
Julie Alexander (Seattle)
Katrin Bremermann (Berlin)
Maria Britton (Brooklyn)
Dawn Cerny (Seattle)
Terry Green (UK)
Margie Livingston (Seattle)
Nicholas Nyland (Tacoma)
Matthew Offenbacher (Seattle)
Mathieu Wernert (Strausbourg)
February 05 – 28, 2015
Reception / Thursday, February 05, 6–8pm
Julie Alexander, Nicholas Nyland and Matthew Offenbacher proudly present paintings and sculptures by nine local and international artists in a hand-painted wallpaper environment.
Oscar Wilde’s reputed last words:
“My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death.
One or other of us has got to go.”
The artists in Bed Bath & Between conflate high modernism with sewing projects, easel painting with thrift store shopping, conceptual thinking with material exploration. By placing these works in and around highly patterned wall coverings, the curators are curious about certain basic figure/ground relationships. Is this all just decoration or do these relationships mean something?
Bed Bath & Between explores human pattern building and the insistent dissolution and reforming of patterns. Each iteration in the process reflects the individual and their social group. The challenge of distinguishing a figure from a ground is a fundamental human challenge. Life is the emergence of a figure, a complex series of negotiations between a figure and a richly patterned ground, and a final dissolve back into the gestalt.
Press for Bed Bath & Between:
Brian Edmonds, The Curating Contemporary Blog: “Bed Bath & Between @ Soil Gallery”
Terry Greene, Just Another Painter: “Bed Bath & Between @ Soil Gallery”