September 10 - October 7, 2020
Inhabit: Stephen Cimini and Frances Vye Wilson
Family Matters: Joy Nagy
Carter Burden Gallery presents two new online exclusive exhibitions: Inhabit featuring Stephen Cimini and Frances Vye Wilson; and Family Matters featuring Joy Nagy. The exhibitions run from September 10 - October 7, 2020 on Carter Burden Gallery’s website and Artsy.net.
Stephen Cimini
Inhabit features Stephen Cimini’s paintings from a new ongoing series, where the artist applies a similar geometric composition to canvases of various sizes and aspect ratios, giving him the freedom to concentrate solely on color and texture. Building on the architectural origins, which have been the basis of Cimini’s work for over a decade, he has started referring to his compositions as random symmetry. He employs the golden mean as a reference, which can often be seen in the composition. Using oil paint with a cold wax medium, layering the paint, as organic surfaces evolve within the restrained lines of the composition. Cimini’s color choices vary, sometimes deliberately creating a series with particular color decisions and sometimes allowing the color choices to impulsively appear fueled by intuition and experience. Color remains a constantly unfolding mystery.
Originally from the small town of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Cimini first studied fine art at the San Francisco Art Institute and eventually moved back east to study at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He wrestled with various art forms from wood constructed sculpture to conceptual environments before landing on abstract painting something he loved from an early age. In 1994, he began developing the vocabulary for his current work, which originates from the linear landscape of Manhattan. It has since mutated to geometric spaces and their relationships to each other while still adhering to its architectural origins. His fascination with the mystery of color is also a vital aspect of his work.
Frances Vye Wilson
In her first two person exhibition with Carter Burden Gallery, Frances Vye Wilson presents life-size sculptures in Inhabit. The figurative mixed media works from her series’ SOCIAL WARRIORS: Call to Arms and GODS AND WARRIORS are an exploration of the innate qualities of the strength and resilience in humans, in nature, and in the power of myth. As man and nature are challenged, social and environmental issues become the new battleground. She describes, “With totems of power embedded in the sculpture in the form of stones, feathers, and branch material, each visual metaphor is created as a contemplation of what it means to be a warrior in our contemporary emotional, cultural and environmental lives.” By seeing these life-sized warrior torsos, the viewer is asked to consider their own innate personal strength and resilience. The medium pioneered by the artist through extensive experimentation comes from the cambium layer of the Asian mulberry tree from Laos; The inherent cellular quality of cambium fiber and the use of a hardening agent allows for endless structural possibilities.
Frances Vye Wilson was born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. She was strongly influenced by her family of contemporary artists working in a variety of media. In her 20's, she studied fine art and choreography at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia. She went on to spend much of her life in the film and television industry as a member of the Screen Actors Guild, a theatre producer for the Actors Studio and founder of a film production company, New Century Filmworks. A 12-year immersive study of the Japanese art form Ikebana culminated in two exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She returned again in 2013 to New York to pursue her passion for art and in particular, sculpture, studying sculpture and mixed media at the National Academy Museum and New York School of Art.
Joy Nagy
In her first solo exhibition with Carter Burden Gallery, Joy Nagy presents a vibrant and engaging installation in Family Matters. The series evolved when Nagy inherited the contents of four storage units from her aunt and mother after her brother passed away. Over 200 textiles handkerchiefs, silk scarves, handmade dresses and ornamental flowers, photographs and objects filled old suitcases and cardboard boxes. Running the length of the West Gallery are a series of bell jars in which silk scarves and textiles are now arranged. On the walls surrounding the glass domes are tall narrow paintings created using pastel and gouache on paper that are inspired by the color and tactile quality of her silk scarves. Nagy explains, “This work represents a reappraisal of values. To me my brother’s death was not only about his loss but, about the entire family and its interrelationships. The paintings, assemblages and installations include objects and photographs that record my family’s issues of immigration, hard work and love.”
Joy Nagy was born in New York City and is an interdisciplinary artist who works in a variety of media, including drawing, painting, and sculpture. Nagy earned an Associate of Applied Science degree at Fashion Institute of Technology where she majored in Apparel Design and has since studied at The New York Studio School with Graham Nickson, The Art Students League in New York City with renown anatomist Frank Porcu, and currently at the Greenwich House Pottery. For over a decade, she taught painting techniques to New York City middle and high school students as a teaching artist through the School of Visual Arts' Education Department Liberty Partnership Program. Nagy is the author and illustrator of the book Chocolate Astrology, published by Clarkson Potter a division of Random House and Build Your Own Alphabet published by Harry N Abrams. Her visual artwork has been shown in solo and group exhibitions by museums and galleries in the United States and abroad. She has been awarded fellowships at nationally renowned artist residencies— including Vermont Studio Center, The Jentel Artist Residency Program, Ox-Bow School of the Arts, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council residency on Governors Island.
Installation Views
