NEW YORK, NY.- Benrimon Contemporary announces Agathe de Bailliencourt: Sheer. This marks the first solo exhibition for the artist at the gallery and features all new paintings on view from May 2 to June 29, 2013.

On the basis of an inquiry into the materiality of raw linen canvas, Agathe de Bailliencourt’s exhibition deals with the classic question of horizon, as one of painting’s most traditional acts in defining time, space, and a scale of infinity. Following an installation at Art Omi in Ghent, NY in summer 2012, the series conveys the experience of painting in real space and in nature to the act of painting within the defined dimensions of canvas and the studio.

SHEER is characterized by subtle color gradations, produced with acrylic paint, pencil, and water. The untreated linen fiber reacts to these materials in a very particular, extremely sensitive, slow and almost uncontrollable way. At the same time, every action is irreversibly visible, laying bare the history of producing an image of a landscape.

In her own words, the artist sees this process as an intuitive exploration for a domain that incorporates the experience of inside and outside, nature and artificiality, a “third category”. In terms of space, this would be a "transparent" environment, direct and non-representational.

In the Journal of Contemporary Art, Roni Horn said: “Presence occurs if a thing is what it appears to be.” The raw materiality and pictorial openness of Agathe de Bailliencourt’s paintings correspond to this in a very direct way.

Since 2004, de Bailliencourt has been exhibiting internationally; she participated in the Singapore Biennale in 2006 with a site-specific paint installation. In 2007, she completed her first large-scale light projection at the IHZ-Building/Berlin followed by a second light installation in 2008 at the Berliner Dom, as well as an installation for the Shanghai Zendai Museum within the same year. In 2009, she was invited by Mori Art Museum in Tokyo to take part in the Roppongi Art Night and then later that year returned to Japan for the Tokyo Wonder Site Residency. In 2010, she published an artist book with Revolver Publishing and had her first New York solo exhibition at Lu Magnus, Expressway to your Skull. In 2011, she completed a permanent public installation for a high school in France. Most recently, de Bailliencourt took part in two residencies; the prestigious nine month residency with Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's workspace program and the Art Omi residency in Ghent, New York which she has just completed. The artist currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany.