NYAB Event - Rebecca Smith “Interference”

Rebecca Smith “Interference”

Hionas Gallery LES

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Hionas Gallery presents Interference, a solo exhibition of new steel sculptures from Rebecca Smith. This is the artist’s first showing with the gallery, which will run from October 18 to November 24, 2013.

Smith’s practice is the act of composing sculpture, each one a tangible object that, in a sense, describes an act of painting. Her geometric abstractions attain buoyancy, interacting with space and light in ways that allow the sculpture to breathe from within rather than rely on surrounding wall space for effect. This lightness is enhanced by the artist’s careful application of interference paint on the steel’s surface.

With Hanging Dress (2010), a large scale work comprised of nearly two dozen steel bars and mounted on brackets extending more than a foot from the wall, the range of visuals come together to resemble a subtle, choreographed dance, equal parts power and finesse. The sculpture’s protruding yellow edges lend weight to the otherwise fragile work and emphasize its overall asymmetry. Moving inward and upward, the bars’ interactions grow denser while the interference paint transitions to a light hue of pink, a transition that is interrupted ever so briefly by the softest tint of cadmium orange. And like a dancer or abstract painter, Smith doesn’t shy from allowing her design to vary while taking form. A single, overlaying yellow bar rests on the upper left corner, situated neither parallel nor perpendicular to any of the complementing pieces, giving Hanging Dress touches of movement both physically and in the visual spectrum of color.

“A sculpture must be convinced of its own existence,” says Smith.“ Either it’s not worth taking up space or it’s magic.” Smith’s perspective and her approach denote a playfulness with shape, line, color and form, and a careful consideration of how to juxtapose all four. The magic she aspires to in this body of work is achieved by mastering materials that communicate mutability in their making.

Rebecca Smith (b.1954) grew up in Washington, DC and upstate New York. She attended Sarah Lawrence College and The New York Studio School. First exhibiting in 1977, she has been making art since the late 1970s, in various media including painting, performance, sculpture and tape drawing installations. In addition to Interference, her first solo show with Hionas Gallery, Smith will be a panelist and participating artist in EMISSIONS: Images from the Mixing Layer, as part of the upcoming Marfa Dialogues and presented by The Cooper Union Institute for Sustainable Design. Smith lives and works in New York City and Bolton Landing, NY.

Hionas Gallery was founded in the spring of 2011, opening its initial exhibition space at 89 Franklin Street in TriBeCa. In January 2013 the gallery moved to 124 Forsyth Street in the Lower East Side. The gallery’s mission is to invite contemporary and emerging artists, working in all variety of media, to participate in monthly solo exhibitions to showcase their latest work and artistic vision. Past invited exhibitors have included Marina Adams, Siri Berg, Karlos Cárcamo, Kaves, Ariane Lopez-Huici, Charles Lutz, Burton Machen, David Rhodes, Warwick Saint, and Jessica Stoller, to name a few.