UnRealism

DECEMBER 15th, 2020 - APRIL 3rd, 2021

Thordis Adalsteinsdottir, Shiva Ahmadi, Nicole Eisenman, Chitra Ganesh, Angela Heisch, Orly Maiberg, linn meyers, Bridget Mullen, Rebeca Puga, Fiona Rae, and Beverly Semmes.

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE EXHIBITION

Shoshana Wayne Gallery is pleased to announce “UnRealism,” an exhibition of over 30 paintings by 11 women artists that reflect their own highly personal response and attitude to the ‘unrealism’ of our times. For some of the artists this has been a moment of existential crisis requiring bold statements and reflection on our place in society and the world, while for others ‘unrealism‘ has meant a doubling down on the role of art as a space for quiet, peaceful contemplation.

Drawn from different generations and backgrounds in Europe, Asia and America, what connects the artists is their difference: Thordis Adalsteinsdottir, Shiva Ahmad, Nicole Eisenman, Chitra Ganesh, Angela Heisch, Orly Maiberg, linn meyers, Bridget Mullen, Rebeca Puga, Fiona Rae, and Beverly Semmes. Together they take the pulse of painting in the world today, reflecting what is being made now, among women painters, as well as in the art world more broadly at a time in which no particular art style or movement dominates and everything seems to coexist and mingle.

The artwork speaks for itself. But there are commonalities. Each of the artists in their own distinct way is socially minded. A commitment to painting is also unwavering and paramount— even if the materials and the surfaces which they use in their work clearly differ. So too is a commitment to realism, as a mode of expression, although this varies in the work from painterly forms of figuration to a new surrealism and expressionism bordering at times on abstraction. Unrealism is therefore reflected not just in the chosen content or subject matter of their work but a straddling and confusion of formal lines between figuration and abstraction. To all of the artists the distinction does not seem to be a hard or fast one but evocative of the doubts and questions we all face today.

Realistic depiction is a starting point for Ganesh, Rae, Adalsteinsdottir, Eisenman, Ahmadi, Semmes. The body in particular is the preferred subject, usually women’s bodies but not in a conventional sense of a female nude: these are bodies in transition, dissolution, movement, wracked with conflicts from within and out. Bodies of the past mingle with present life to forge a vision of what could or should be, at the least according to the artist. There is always something that disturbs us in these paintings, repressed or forgotten feelings welling up.

A similar evocation of energy and tension characterizes the artwork of the other main group of artists in this exhibition, Heisch, Puga, Mullen, Maiberg and Meyers who tend to abstract their focus with forms that defy easy categorization. The landscape or some kind of space emerges tangentially as a theme here, though frequently one has a feeling when looking at this work of falling into or through space.

Shiva Ahmadi

After Noah, 2020

Acrylic on Canvas

60" x 36"

Shiva Ahmadi

Gabriel’s Horn, 2020

Acrylic on canvas

72" x 60"

Shiva Ahmadi

Hanging Monkey, 2018

Watercolor and ink on paper

40" x 60"

Shiva Ahamdi

Oil Barrel #26, 2020

Oil and Swarovski crystal on steel barrel

29" x 21" x 21"

Chitra Ganesh

Butterfly, 2019

Water-based paints, fabric hardener, archival PVA glue, and mixed media on paper on linen

51 1/2" x 41"

Chitra Ganesh

Path of Escape, 2019

Acrylic, ink, Kodak repositionable fabric paper, automotive glass, glass beads on paper; mounted on paper on linen

57” x 48”

Angela Heisch

High Beams (Drawing), 2020

Pastel on paper

12" x 9"

Angela Heisch

Spun Sugar (Drawing), 2020

Pastel on paper

12" x 9"

Angela Heisch

Space Person (Drawing), 2020

Pastel on paper

12" x 9"

Thordis Adalsteinsdottir

Boy smokes shrimp, 2020

Acrylic on canvas

25" x 31 1/2"

Orly Maiberg

Tilted, 2020

Mixed media on raw canvas

26 3/4" x 19 3/4"

Orly Maiberg

Gathering, 2020

Ink, paint and collage on canvas

47 1/2" x 40 1/2"

Orly Maiberg

Headstand, 2020

Mixed media on canvas

46" x 31 1/2"

Orly Maiberg

Hunting, 2020

Mixed media on canvas

47" x 36"

Beverly Semmes

Mitten, 2020

Ink, acrylic over photograph printed on canvas

40" x 40"

Beverly Semmes

Painting Face, 2018

Ink, acrylic over photograph printed on canvas

79" x 38 1/2"

Bridget Mullen

Angle Grinder (II), 2020

Flashe on linen

20" x 16"

Bridget Mullen

Unsteep a Blend, 2017-2019

Flashe, acrylic paint, and spray paint on linen

39" x 19"

Bridget Mullen

Waterfalls You See Waterfalls You Don’t, 2017-2019

Flashe on linen

57" x 46"

Bridget Mullen

Forgettable Sunsets, 2017

Flashe and spray paint on linen

47" x 35"

Bridget Mullen

Pussies, 2016-2020

Flashe, acrylic paint, and spray paint on paper

30" x 22"

Bridget Mullen

A Thought is Dynamite, 2017

Flashe and silkscreen on linen

31" x 22"

Nicole Eisenman

Lemonade Stand, 1994

India ink on paper

21 1/4" x 18"

Framed: 29" x 25" 5/8"

Rebeca Puga

Re-configuration, 2019

Oil on canvas

72” x 56”

Rebeca Puga

At the half way point

Oil on canvas

84” x 75”

Rebeca Puga

Entryways, 2020

Oil on canvas

60” x 42”

linn meyers

Untitled (2020.08), 2020

Acrylic ink on panel

20" x 16"

linn meyers

Untitled (2020.07), 2020

Mixed media on panel

16" x 12"

linn meyers

Untitled, 2020

Acrylic ink and colored pencil on panel

41" x 33"

Fiona Rae

Figure 2a, 2015

Oil on canvas

72" x 51"

Fiona Rae

Humming bear, 2013

Oil and acrylic on canvas

24" x 19 1/2"

Fiona Rae

Abstract 8, 2019

Oil and acrylic on canvas

84” x 96”