NEW YORK, NY – Chelsea’s Agora Gallery will feature the original work of Stephanie E. Graham in Contemporary Perspectives. The exhibition opens April 1, 2017 and runs through April 21, 2017 with an opening reception on Thursday, April 6 from 6-8 pm.
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From a distance, the multimedia art of Stephanie E. Graham may appear like simple abstracted still lifes, but a closer inspection of these pieces reveals a complexity of layers, textures, and meanings. Using materials such as beeswax sheets, old books, vellum, ink, and embroidery, Graham laboriously creates pieces she likens to self-portraits, reflections of places and things that fascinate her. In a way, looking at Graham’s work is like peering into a cabinet of curiosities, a collection of objects that may otherwise seem obscure or worthless, but which have obtained a sense of value and perhaps even mystery through their curation by the artist. Common motifs in Graham’s work include bees, maps, flowers, and hexagonal shapes that have acquired their own symbology through Graham’s repeated application.
Graham is a native and resident of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and attended the School of Art at the University of Manitoba. She says that she hopes the time and labor she invests in creating these unique works of art will inspire her viewers to stop, slow down, and appreciate ordinary objects in their own lives.
Exhibition Dates: April 1, 2017 – April 21, 2017
Reception: Thursday, April 6, 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Gallery Hours: Tues-Sat 11:00am – 6:00pm
Gallery Location: 530 West 25th St, Chelsea, New York
Event URL: http://www.agora-gallery.com/artistpage/Stephanie_E._Graham.aspx
Featured Artists:
Contemporary Perspectives
Lauralee Franco | Fariba Baghi | Craig Frankowski | Stephanie E. Graham | Gail Comes | Bobbie See
About the Exhibition
Contemporary Perspectives: The New Art History
Agora Gallery is pleased to present Contemporary Perspectives, a new collective exhibition highlighting all the ways which show that the past and present are in constant dialogue. Contemporary Perspectives assembles a small group of artists who approach classic subject matter with fresh eyes. Their work contains echoes of art history while managing to be entirely forward-thinking.
Half of the six featured artists work in oil. One depicts romantic landscapes as a series of highly stylized, streamlined patterns. The second paints florals, with an updated hyperrealism and irregular canvases. The third paints portraits that are composed as traditional reverential busts. However the colors are saturated, the body language is animated, and her subjects are women of color, a historically overlooked group. There are two acrylic painters: one creates dramatic visions of completely imaginary forests, and other places realistic figures in foggy, abstracted landscapes. The last artist works in ink and mixed-media to create meticulous botanicals that recall both scientific catalogues and the watercolor works of nineteenth-century leisure painters.