September 8 - October 5, 2022
Inhabit Together
Stephen Cimini & Frances Vye Wilson
Vintage Collections: Watercolors, Etchings, and Drawings
Carol Massa, Frank Massa, and Judith Layne Sarama
On the Wall: Tree of Life
Azita Ghafouri
Carter Burden Gallery presents three new exhibitions: Inhabit Together in the East Gallery featuring geometric abstract paintings by Stephen Cimini and figurative sculptures by Frances Vye Wilson; in the West Gallery Vintage Collections featuring watercolors, etchings, and drawings by Carol Massa, Frank Massa, and Judith Layne Sarama; and On the Wall featuring an installation entitled The Tree of Life by Azita Ghafouri. The exhibitions run from September 8 - October 5, 2022 at 548 West 28th Street in New York City. The reception will be on Thursday, September 8 from 6 - 8pm; masks are mandatory. The gallery hours are Tuesday - Friday, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Exhibition List
Stephen Cimini
Inhabit Together features Stephen Cimini’s paintings from his series Building Blocks, 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 architectural origins, which have been the basis of Cimini’s work for over a decade, he has begun 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 combined with cold wax medium and marble dust, he layers the paint creating organic surfaces that 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
Frances Vye Wilson presents wall installations and free-standing sculptures in Inhabit Together. 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. A selection of the works featured in this current exhibition were shown in the virtual exhibition Inhabit in the fall of 2020.
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 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.
Azita Ghafouri
Azita Ghafouri presents her installation Tree of Life, a large-scale acrylic painting, in the installation space On the Wall. Six panels make up the 44 x 140-inch piece; the papier-mâché canvases were created with layers of newspapers and coated with a layer of white latex paint, prior to the application of acrylic. The work depicts a silhouetted tree stretching across the six panels in stark contrast to the background, marked with stipples of brilliant color. Ghafouri explains, “The Tree of Life represents all sorts of activities and happenings in our lives. Each event symbolized with a motif or a color. As an artist seeing everything in color, my vision is mostly colorful than formative, then every single event of life has its own color. Some of the happenings are still in process and they are on the "Tree of Life", but others have lost their use and dropped off of the tree. As the colors show, the fallen ones are still as vivid and even vital as before, and one day they may get their momentum back and come to life again. Who knows?”
Azita Ghafouri was born in Iran to Russian parents. She received her Masters in Urban Planning and Architecture from Tehran University. Ghafouri has balanced her professional work as an architect with her passion for painting for over four decades. She has exhibited her work widely throughout the United States and internationally. Exhibition highlights include: Azad Gallery in 1971, 1972, 1973; Takht-Jamshid Gallery in Tehran in 1975; Goethe Institute in 1976; Numpkin Gallery in San Diego in 1979; and the Museum of Balboa Park in San Diego in 1980. Ghafouri has exhibited extensively at the Carter Burden Gallery and other New York institutions in recent years.
Vintage Collections: Watercolors, Etchings, and Drawings features the work of Carol Massa, Frank Massa, and Judith Layne Sarama. The collection of works on paper depict imagery of animals, people, still life, landscapes, and fantastical imagery. Elements of some of the works blur the line between hyperrealism and abstraction, while others portray realistic depictions. Each artist displays a high level of skill with their mediums.
Carol Ann Massa was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1945. She studied art at Miami Dade College, receiving scholarships for drawing and printmaking then later transitioned to painting, and completed her degree in 1972. Her etchings in this show are from this early period and are the result of an intense examination of anatomy. She began to paint on canvas in 1980 and has been painting since; Massa’s current works are abstract impressionism.
Frank Massa was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1932 and passed away in 2012. He studied at The School of Art & Design, with a focus in illustration, watercolor, and drawing. His watercolors won first prize at the Greenwhich Village Outdoor Art show 1961. Frank Massa began working with etchings in the 1980's and mastered the technique; many of his prints are included in the show.
Judith Layne Sarama, born in 1940, in Stamford, Connecticut, was awarded a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Swain School of Design in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1978, after having earned a diploma in commercial design and illustration there in 1965. Sarama was an artist, graphic designer, illustrator, printmaker, and lifelong art educator. She passed away in 2009. The works featured in this exhibition are inspired by her endless interest in architecture, old master drawings and etchings, and photography.
Installation Views
