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    Femmenology

    April 20-May 26, 2023

    Jessica Silverman is pleased to present “Femmenology” a group exhibition highlighting women artists, many of which will be featured in the gallery’s 2023­–24 exhibition program. Paintings and sculpture by Kimberly Benson, Julie Buffalohead, Andrea Carlson, Jocelyn Hobbie, Hayal Pozanti, Clare Rojas, Nicole Wermers and Chelsea Ryoko Wong explore narrative through form. Wielding radical approaches to pattern, language, motif and design, artists in the show use rhythm and recurrence to tell stories that reach across time and space. Looking at the year to come, works in the exhibition assemble some of the artists and ideas composing the gallery’s vision for the future.

    Kimberley Benson’s (b. 1986, Denver) oil paintings slip between abstraction and figuration through her process of creation and excavation. Beginning with detailed figuration based on Renaissance paintings, Benson’s representations dissolve beneath her labor-intensive process of sanding, stenciling, casting, and extruding to make highly textured, lace-like surfaces. The original figures appear as if through a gossamer screen that suspends the viewer and the artist in a dialogue with art historical painting.
    Movie Night (2023) by Clare Rojas (b. 1976, Columbus, OH) suggests the liveness of the world around us through depictions of eyes, a recurring symbol in her work, set on a female protagonist. In a new 24-inch-tall bronze, a small figure emerges from the center of a calla lily. Associated with the Greek origin tale of the milky way—made from Hera’s breast milk—calla lilies grew where droplets of the goddess’s milk hit the ground.

    Hayal Pozanti’s (b. 1983, Istanbul) interest in the impact of technology on human society led her to create a geometric alphabet of 31 glyphs that form the building blocks of her practice. Working in oil sticks Pozanti blends paint directly onto the canvas with her fingers, creating haptic surfaces and adapting her visual language to reflect the subconscious and rhythms of the natural world.
    In Clare Rojas's new 24-inch-tall bronze, a small figure emerges from the center of a calla lily. Associated with the Greek origin tale of the milky way—made from Hera’s breast milk—calla lilies grew where droplets of the goddess’s milk hit the ground.
    Working in oil sticks Pozanti blends paint directly onto the canvas with her fingers, creating haptic surfaces and adapting her visual language to reflect the subconscious and rhythms of the natural world.
    Chelsea Ryoko Wong’s (b. 1986, Seattle) new acrylics on canvas likewise combine varying patterns, from geometric shapes to an abundant array of fruits and vegetables. The lavish patterning operates as a kind of psychedelic, transporting us to a fantastic realm.
    Jocelyn Hobbie’s (b. 1969, Northampton, MA) extravagantly patterned paintings celebrate ornamentation and beauty. In Blue & Gold Dress/two large tulips (2023), variegated floral and geometric patterns surround and adorn a stoic, neo-classically rendered woman. Recalling pattern-on-pattern designs of the 1960s and 70s, Hobbie’s paintings boldly claim space for the decorative and the audaciously feminine.
    Andrea Carlson (b. 1979, Grand Portage Ojibwe) creates mosaic-like patterns often drawing imagery from Indigenous and art historical sources to construct expansive cultural landscapes. Her intricate paintings on paper refer to the arrow pattern on L’Assomption sashes—finger-braided wool bands popular during the fur trade for carrying objects attached to the body and are now a symbol of identity for the Métis people. Through density and repetition, Carlson uses abstraction to restore and reclaim imagery.
    Julie Buffalohead’s (b. 1974, Minneapolis) anthropomorphic animals suggest the omnipresence of spirit. Recurring motifs, such as the muskrats and coyotes in Bittersweet and The Beaded Tail (2021), explore memory, childhood, and motherhood.
    Reflecting on the language of design, Nicole Wermers (b. 1971, Emsdetten, Germany) considers urban spaces and their sociopolitical and narrative aspects. In Untitled (rock bench) (2023), Wermers places large rocks beneath an angular acrylic box, inviting viewers to take a seat while subverting ideas about natural and man-made objects.