Mary Shah “A Place In Space Where We Both Meet”

Rick Wester Fine Art

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Rick Wester Fine Art presents A Place In Space Where We Both Meet, the first solo exhibition in New York of paintings by Mary Shah. Receiving her B.F.A. from Pratt Institute in 2007, Shah explores personal loss through the metaphorical depiction of imaginary landscapes and seascapes, creating luminous, atmospheric compositions, laced with spiritual overtones and subtle brushwork. Working primarily in oil on wood panels, the paintings investigate consciousness as something palpable, an entity created from space, color and existence in time. Shah comments on the works saying, These paintings are about things felt but unseen.

A catalyst for the work, personal loss may be the underlying motivation within the clean borders of the paintings, but the imagery is always hopeful, the light always radiant and the overwhelming presence of the earth, sky and seas insistent as characters in her painting. It is striking to realize how these small, delicate objects project a positive life force despite their complex inspiration. The pictorial influences of 17th century Dutch Masters, the 19th century French and German Romantics and the Neoimpressionists figure strongly here, while drawing upon memory and a nod towards the fantastic imagery of William Blake, without the tortured figures. The spaces Shah creates in her paintings are empty stages, places beckoning for reconciliation, where the living and the passed may meet.

Mary Shah is the director at Lennon Weinberg, Inc., a contemporary art gallery in Chelsea. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband. Her work is in numerous private collections throughout the United States.