Emily Gherard and Amanda Knowles

Opposing Forces

January 05 – 28, 2017
Reception / Thursday, January 05, 6–8pm

For the past year, Emily Gherard and Amanda Knowles have been working together on a series of works on paper. The exhibition, Opposing Forces, at SOIL Gallery gives a glimpse into their collaborative labor.  In this series, their investigation has focused on structural, industrial imagery. The grid provides a uniting visual element that structures as well as accentuates the destruction, distortion and sometimes chaos that emerged as Gherard’s and Knowles’ visions and working methods combined. In the studio they each examined the rules that defined their individual studio practices, using the edge where they diverged as a place of interest, noting the difference between individual labor and that which happens in collaboration.

In addition to building up layers on the two-dimensional plane in drawing, painting, print, and collage, Gherard and Knowles built three-dimensional structures that interact with their works on paper. This progression off of the wall makes physical the visual layers of repeating architectural forms. The resulting explorations that began two-dimensionally and have pushed into the three-dimensional realm unite contrasting visual elements and capture the visual tension as they collide.