September 6th - October 6th
Artists' Reception
Thursday September 6th 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Chelsea, New York... Beth Ganz opens a show of new photographic works on September 6th at Reeves Contemporary on 535 West 24th Street in New York. In the project space, Soo Sunny Sunny installs Fractal Immersions, a site-specific installation continuing her exploration of refracted interior and exterior spaces. Both exhibitions run through October 6th. The artists' reception is on Thursday, September 6th, from 6-8 p.m.
Ganz's new work challenges the traditional aesthetics of landscape photography. Her new imagery focuses on the topographies and reliefs of Iceland in both the negative and positive - the photogravures feature volcanic and geothermal sites, including petrified lava flows, inert volcanoes, obsidian lava fields, geothermal steam vents and the Blue Lagoon. The addition of hand-painted maps interjects an element of historical exploration, which complements the nineteenth century process of photogravure. The flux between the surface of the image and the photograph's illusory depth alludes, as well, to landscape paintings' historical legacy of offering a window onto another world.
Ganz's images are at once supported and disrupted by the play between negative and positive, surface and depth, landscape image and map-like painted detail. The use of the fragile kozo paper in conjunction with the weight and mass of the topographies serves the artist's intent well: the collaged reverse imagery becomes a finely honed exchange of mirror-image shapes.
Ganz has had several solo exhibitions in New York and elsewhere; her prints have been included in many group shows in the United States, England, Europe, and India since 1989. Her work is well represented in public and private collections including; the Hofstra Museum, Hempstead, NY; New York Historical Society, New York, NY; Library of Congress, Washington, DC; New York Public Library, New York, NY; and U.S. Department of State Art Bank.
Soo Sunny Sunny continues her exploration of installations that play with our perceptions by fracturing our vision; and by creating environments with repeated elements - often monochromatic - and rhythmic visual patterns that negate visual suppositions. Her environments are all at once experimental and controlled. Sunny's use of materials ultimately realizes her preoccupation and readiness to explore the concerns of suffused light and space.
A recent project included large canopies of chain link fence with plastic cups inserted in the grids, accented with long strings weighted by stones. When lit from above, the soft glow of light was reminiscent of deep-sea creatures - a confounding use of familiar materials to create a meditative and improbably beautiful surround.
In this current manifestation of her inquiry, Sunny is creating layers of 'fractal', honeycombed walls with egg crates and air filters. The successive, receding spaces, each with its own exchange of shadow, light, and refracted patterns, is a further investigation into us - as viewers - experiencing a visually complicated depth of field.
Of her work, Sunny observes: 'I explore properties of geometry, concept of space, time, and abstract mathematics with structure, pattern, and the dialogue between logical and lyrical shape. The process I employ is both scientific and intuitive. My time is spent researching physical and idealized space, and how they create a liminal interstitial (engaging) space. I am involved in re-utilization of manufactured products (quotidian materials) and the use of natural materials, which are affected by the laws and principles of physics (shadows, gravity, etc.).'
Soo Sunny Sunny received her B.F.A. in painting and sculpture from Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio, and her M.F.A. in sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Sunny is a recipient of the Joan Mitchell M.F.A. Grant; Grand Prize winner of the 19th Annual Michigan Fine Arts Competition; Skowhegan Residency, Skowhegan, Maine, and Cité Internationale des Arts Studio Residency, Paris, France. Selected publications include Forum for Contemporary Art, New Art Examiner (2001), Art in America (2004), and Focus, Sculpture Magazine (2004). For more information or to view the online gallery, see
reevescontemporary.com or call 212 714 0044.
Labels: Contemporary-Art
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