NYAB Event - “Faceless: Figuring Immediacy + New Nudes” Exhibition

“Faceless: Figuring Immediacy + New Nudes” Exhibition

OUTLET

[Image: Julie Tuyet Curtiss "Bodybuilding Ladies" (2015) Acrylic on Canvas 48 x 50 in.]

This event has ended.

OUTLET Fine Art present Faceless: Figuring Immediacy along with New Nudes.

Faceless will feature work by Julie Tuyet Curtiss, Jen Hitchings and Gili Levy. The exhibition is focused on the interplay between concept and articulation in the figurative works of these three artists, all of who exhibit a strong tendency towards bold expression within a highly evocative visual language.

Indeed, on first glance, their works appear similar. Tones, sizes, and subjects combine with a palpable “presentness” and a strong emotional energy. But looking closer, the similarities evolve into distinct idiosyncrasies.

Jen Hitchings’ intimate paintings of memories, both her own and those of friends, often culled from photos, present youthful social situations often tinged with ambiguity and angst reminiscent of adolescence. By abstracting her scenes however, she is able to focus on the specific emotional context of the moment even though many scenes are ambiguously presented in a nostalgic blur. Yet, her usually sardonic figures nevertheless remain poignant through the poses and lively sense of movement created by Hitchings’ signature style of undulating brushwork and pointed speckling.

In a different way, Levy’s work also places a high value on process, insomuch as her composition results from the struggle for balance between a more rigid line work and a looser improvisational brush. But, it is not always the former providing structure to the latter’s expression; Levy manages to subvert that tendency, often by instead using juxtaposed colors. Yet in these highly intimate paintings, which are often laden with motifs and references to other works in her oeuvre, the colors also tend to bleed into each other. What emerges is the emotional impression of the subject told through Levy’s rich visual language.

Curtiss’ own language is equally strong, though her figures are not individuals per se, but stand-ins for larger character tropes and ideas. Her works are more symbolic as she examines aspects of social and gender politics. For this reason, her figures, more ironically illustrative than realistic, are often a blend of bizarre sexualized surrealism, similar to, but bolder than work in the vein of John Wesley. Yet the figures are present instead of flat. They demonstrate a self-awareness verging on exhibitionism. The opposite of candid, they situate the viewer within their own perhaps dubious gaze.

OUTLET will also be showcasing a selection of New Nudes by Dan Flanagan. Having undergone a radical transformation in presentation of figure, his new works appear, rhythmic and gestural, but are actually composed deliberately, if some what expressionistically. Using the edges of the canvas as part of their composition he abstracts the forms and shapes of the body into a few curt lines. Yet, in their starkness, there is a humor as the shapes exhibit an unsettling duality between bodies and some inscrutable other form, possibly familiar, possibly not causing a pleasant cognitive dissonance much like staring at clouds on a warm summer day.