Sam Moyer "Slack Tide”

Rachel Uffner Gallery

poster for Sam Moyer "Slack Tide”

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Rachel Uffner Gallery presents a show of new work by Sam Moyer. For her second solo show at the gallery, Moyer will exhibit pieces that continue her examination of the liminal space between the two- and three-dimensional, albeit in a larger, more imposing scale than her work has explored before. In paintings that hover on the edge of sculpture, and sculpture that hovers on the edge of painting, Moyer recalls the rigorous language of mid-20th-century minimalist art, but also the modest, playful and scattershot material processes of home design projects.

The show’s title, “Slack Tide,” refers to the short interval of time in which the outgoing and incoming tides meet, rendering a body of water still. The tonally muted and yet formally tense push/pull of Moyer’s paintings can be likened to this fleeting moment of deceptive calm. While Moyer has previously appended black and white photographs or Xeroxes to various sculptural elements, in this body of work, these photographic images are replaced by worked-upon raw canvas. Dying the fabric in India ink, setting it to dry in various wrinkled and folded permutations, “drawing” on it with a domestic bleach product (the bleach filling in for light, to form a quasi-photographic pattern) and finally ironing the canvas and adhering it to wood panels, Moyer’s work ultimately takes on a sense of depth, despite its literal flatness. The wood panel becomes a type of wall-mounted pedestal, on which the canvas’ surprisingly baroque pleats and folds take on the role of sculptural object.

In the window sculpture created for this show, Moyer’s fabrics are mounted on one side of wood slats, extending the language of the two-dimensional even further out into the gallery space. Keeping the elevated language of abstract painting at bay, these canvases are subsumed into a low-key, decorative architectural element. This complicity between the sublime and the familiar is what marks Moyer’s work. In their imposing scale, looming over the narrow gallery space, the artist’s tactile works challenge the viewer but also draw her in, calling her to participate and collude.

Media

Schedule

from March 04, 2012 to April 22, 2012

Opening Reception on 2012-03-04 from 18:00 to 20:00

Artist(s)

Sam Moyer

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