PHILADELPHIA, PA.- Images of women by women are presented in the latest exhibition organized by The Galleries at Moore. IN REPOSE features eighteen women artists whose work in photography, video, sculpture, performance, and sound boldly explores femininity, identity, and sexuality. The exhibition opens with a public reception on Friday, January 25 from 6 to 8pm and remains on view through March 14, 2008.

Drawn from the collection of internationally known Miami Beach collectors Dennis and Debra Scholl, IN REPOSE includes iconic figures, such as Janine Antoni, Mariko Mori, Catherine Opie, Pipilotti Rist, Carolee Schneemann and Cindy Sherman, whose photography, film and performance work from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s represents the historical context for much of the art in the exhibition. Also included are members of the current generation of artists, such as Tanyth Berkeley, Rineke Dijkstra, Trisha Donnelly, Naomi Fisher, Jenny Gage, Anna Gaskell, Kim Gordon, Katy Grannan, Melanie Schiff, Meredyth Sparks, Helen Van Meene, and Bettina Von Zwehl, who use traditional genres of self-portraiture, portraiture, narrative, and landscape to probe definitions of beauty, celebrity and notions of identity and its relation to the uncertain territory between adolescence and adulthood.

The exhibition, consisting of approximately 30 works in photography, video and sound, is presented in the Goldie Paley Gallery and curated by Lorie Mertes, Rochelle F. Levy Director and Chief Curator.

The show’s title, according to Mertes, refers to moments of transition and shift, “Although few of the women portrayed in the works on view are in a literal state of being ‘in repose,’ many are captured at a poignant moment of transformation whether it be physical and emotional transformation, the process of surrendering one identity and defining oneself anew, or the moment of rest between being and becoming.” She adds, “The exhibition is particularly significant here at Moore, the nation’s first and only college dedicated to educating women for careers in art and design. Here, many young women, like the subjects in the works on view, make the transition from adolescence to adulthood, find their voice as women and artists and create a vision for their future.”

“Debra and I could not be more thrilled to lend works from our collection to the galleries at an all women’s college for art and design,” says, collector Dennis Scholl. “We’ve known and followed Lorie’s career in Miami for years and are happy to add to the program she’s creating in Philadelphia. It’s an amazing fit and interesting to us because we want the collection, especially the works of young artists, to constantly be seen and experienced in new contexts.”

Mertes responds by adding, “The Scholls have quietly made an impact on the contemporary art world by nurturing the careers of young artists and curators, helping shape museum collections, and personally acquiring works that compellingly tell the story of art and ideas over the past 30 years. It means so much to be able to present this powerful and provocative group of works here in Philadelphia.”

Publication - The exhibition is accompanied by a full-color tabloid style publication with reproductions of works in the exhibition. Texts by the curator, and fiction writer Luisa Luna (Brave New Girl, Crooked) and writer, journalist and biographer Jan Jarboe Russell (Dreaming Red: Creating ArtPace with Linda Pace and Lady Bird: A Biography of Mrs. Johnson).

Lorie Mertes has more than fifteen years of curatorial experience with a focus on international art of the 20th and 21st centuries. Prior to joining Moore as the Rochelle F. Levy Director and Chief Curator of The Galleries at Moore, Mertes served as Director of The Fabric Workshop and Museum from June to December 2006 where she oversaw the installation of exhibitions by Paul Chan and Jean Shin, as well as curating “Process and Collaboration: Celebrating Twelve Years at 1315 Cherry Street.” Before coming to Philadelphia, Mertes was Assistant Director for Special Projects/Curator at The Miami Art Museum (MAM) where she was a member of MAM’s curatorial and senior staff from 1994 to 2006. At MAM, Mertes curated numerous exhibitions featuring such artists as: Janine Antoni, Russell Crotty, Dara Friedman, Jim Hodges, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Ann Hamilton, Alfredo Jaar, Vik Muniz, Oscar Munoz, Paul Pfeiffer, Miguel Angel Rios, James Rosenquist, George Segal, Shahzia Sikander, Lorna Simpson, and Bill Viola.