Elizabeth Bisbing "Assuming the Divine"
Soho20 Chelsea Gallery
This event has ended.
In Elizabeth Bisbing's third solo show at SOHO20 Chelsea, "Assuming the Divine", from February 3rd to February 28th, she examines the object of 'the divine' through her signature collage, which are simply watercolor paper painted with gouache that is cut into shapes and pasted together. As Bisbing introduces more details into her pieces, the collage becomes sculptural with the weight of layers of skin color, folds in dresses, blossoms falling from above. Delving into art history and borrowing from such varied sources as Gauguin, Renoir, Neel, Poussin, Morisot and others, the artist re-imagines scenes from the lives of saints, sinners and little girls. Her pieces are intimate, intricate icons that both illuminate and personify her subjects.
In her 'Change of Costume Series,' Bisbing amends the familiar past time of generations of girls (paper dolls) into an exploration of who is or is not embraced in several different religious traditions. A penitent Mary Magdalene, covering her nakedness with hair grown long from her time in the desert, is lifted to heaven by four angels. Her face however, is cut out, and the signature paper - doll card fuses her traditional identity with that of a nude Eve after Durer. Such is the case with Bisbing's rendition of Krishna raising the mountain, Saint Ursula, Salomé, as well as known players from the art-historical tradition.
In the 'Calamity Series', also on view, Bisbing returns to themes of childhood and a threatened innocence. In these black and white pieces, the subtle, imaginary monsters Bisbing implied in early work have been made flesh and are manifested as sea monsters, a shark rising up just on the brink of swallowing two playing children, and a tsunami ready to subsume them. The 'monster' (the threat of innocence revoked) reigns supreme, in both size and composition.
Media
Schedule
from February 03, 2009 to February 28, 2009