NYAB Event - Jane LaFarge Hamill "Emoticon"

Jane LaFarge Hamill "Emoticon"

J. Cacciola Gallery

This event has ended.

J. Cacciola Gallery presents the exhibition of emoticon; a series of new paintings by Jane Lafarge Hamill.

The term emoticon is derived from the assembly of 'emotion' and 'iconology'; two central themes of Hamill's work. In this exhibition of new paintings, Hamill studies the validity of contemporary shorthand; whether through logos advertised on her figure's clothing, in facial cues of emotion, or a mood's disintegration into an abstract translation. In contrast to the popular use of emoticons as supplemental content to language in digital communication; her figures display an ambiguous limbo between what should not be able to be defined- the constant and complicated shift of mood. In these paintings, she questions emotion as symbol- and instead, offers a view of the passage between recognized states.

Hamill shows no interest in painting figures in fixed emotion; and her marks follow this measure. Although the series is brought together with similar composition, scale, and subject- the paintings show a wide range of style. Her tools vary between preciously cared for brushes and windshield wipers.

The majority of this series was painted while Hamill was living in Leipzig, Germany. The condition of the city; as a place still rebuilding itself from massive population and job loss after unification in the 1990's, and as an artist rich community stemming from the Leipzig School of representational painters- is one of contrast. Hamill recounts walking to her studio over rubble, past abandoned buildings, and through empty lots. And yet, while these places show a marked demise of industry, they are being also repurposed for the sake of showing, making, and fostering art. Hamill mimics the disintegration and rebuilding of place in her dismantling and rebuilding of figures in paint, layer after layer.

This is Jane Lafarge Hamill's first solo show with J. Cacciola Gallery.