SANTA FE, NM.- Gerald Peters Projects is presenting The Space Between Us, an exhibition of recent paintings and ceramic vessels by New York-based artist Lorraine Shemesh.
Shemesh’s new paintings demonstrate a unique approach that marries figuration with abstract expressionist concerns. The recent series represents an exploration of movement and pattern as two dancers interact and press against the edge of the canvas in a dynamic way. Working with the charged form of the figure, she addresses issues of disjuncture and harmony, the politics of communication, and the use of camouflage in poetic form.
The featured works in clay were inspired by the layered rock formations of New Mexico. Using a Japanese process called neriage, Shemesh wove and intertwined different-colored clay bodies, building patterns reminiscent of those found in nature. The color structure of the ceramics later informed the warmer palette of the work she produced in paint, creating a dialogue between the two mediums.
As the artist states: “There is an emotional component to the weaving together of the light and dark of the human experience. Clay has a memory, is easily broken, sensitive to touch and temperature, capable of fragility and strength, and greatly affected by the atmosphere in which it finds itself. Much the same thing can be said for the human body and the ephemeral nature of life itself.”
Shemesh’s work has been exhibited in solo and group shows across the United States and internationally. An MFA graduate of the Tyler School of Art at Temple University, she has held teaching positions at The Rhode Island School of Design and Amherst College. Her work has been reviewed/reproduced in The New Yorker, Art In America, The New York Times, and Harper’s Magazine, among others. Shemesh is the recipient of a Rhode Island State Council for the Arts Grant in Painting, a Yaddo Fellowship, and a Distinguished Alumni Award in Visual Arts from Boston University, and she was elected to the National Academy of Design in 2005. She lives and works in New York City.
