Victoria Behm "Recent Work: Mexico and New York Paintings, Prints and Drawings"

440 Gallery

poster for Victoria Behm "Recent Work: Mexico and New York Paintings, Prints and Drawings"

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The 440 Gallery presents Recent Work: Mexico and New York by Victoria Behm.
Skeletons, Heart Attacks, and a Kitty -- Oh, My!

Every successful artist hones a few survival skills in the course of their career and Victoria Behm has amassed quite a few. Her exhibit at the 440 Gallery in Brooklyn, opening April 12, is an eclectic display of Behm's multiple artistic obsessions. There are several distinct bodies of work here, all highly developed aspects of her complex practice.

Behm's elegant grid paintings, in encaustic and oil on canvas, constitute one element of her work. Her mother was a master quilt maker and Behm says she "grew up among the geometry of cut fabrics and the history of patterns." These abstract color blocks, distilled from traditional quilt designs, constitute a series of paintings popular with designers and architects. Related to these paintings are wood-cut prints she made on an old press at a Mayan paper cooperative in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico, where there is a strong textile tradition dating back 400 years. Many of their woven and embroidered symbols and designs resemble American quilt patterns.

This work faces a wall of quirky pen and ink drawings covering a range of subjects, reflecting Behm's broad life experiences and intimate daily encounters. Humorous, poignant and engaging, stylistically the drawings resemble the artist's most recent commercial coup: a national Cole Haan ad campaign that has been popping up throughout New York City and online.

Giant skeleton figures, resembling Day of the Dead imagery, bridge the two diverse styles. Crafted from styrofoam plates and printed on yellowing 50-year old, hand-set newspapers from San Cristobal de las Casas, the figures possess the same graphic energy as the drawings. They hold in their hands mysterious panels, scribed with geometric patterns that could be folkloric textiles, the floor plans of Mesoamerican pyramids or Behm's elegant quilt paintings.

But it is Behm's notebooks that provide the seedbed where all these diverse expressions germinate. A consistent practice for decades, these notebooks are the artist's visual diary of a life richly traveled. They chronicle with sensitivity, courage and humor, her battle with breast cancer and heart disease. With titles like Breast Cancer Notebook: My story in Paper and Glue; Bigger, Yet Weaker: A Picture Diary of My Failing Heart; and My Aunt Ester Lived in a Piano Crate, these artist's books draw us into the world of a true survivor, one with grit and wit.

Media

Schedule

from April 12, 2012 to May 13, 2012

Opening Reception on 2012-04-14 from 16:00 to 19:00

Artist(s)

Victoria Behm

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