SANTA MONICA, CA.- Christopher Grimes Gallery announces an exhibition of new seascape paintings by Pia Fries. In this body of work, roiling seas and capsizing ships taken from the engravings of renowned Italian artist of the Baroque period, Stefano della Bella, act as the ground over which Fries applies bristling, vibrant color. The gestures of della Bella’s engravings are echoed in Fries’ energetic application of paint while the white, negative spaces proffer respite from the storm.

Fries is featured in the new book by Dave Hickey, Twenty Five Women: Essays on Their Art.

Pia Fries lives and works in Dusseldorf and Berlin, Germany. She is an MA student of Gerhard Richter, having attended his painting classes at the Kunstakademie Dusserldorf from 1980 to 1986. Fries has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Kunstplattform AKKU, Emmenbrücke, Lucerne, Switzerland (2015); Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Germany (2011); and Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland (2007). Her work has been included in the group exhibitions, freshly painted, Brother Klaus Museum, Sachseln (2014); Yes, No, Maybe, Artists Working at Crown Point Press, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (2013); The Doubled Image, Kunstmuseum Solothurn, Switzerland (2013); Landscape Confection, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH (2005); Beau Monde, SITE Santa Fe Biennial, curated by Dave Hickey (2001); and the Venice Biennale (1999). Fries’ work is held in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, CA; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, NY; Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany; and Kunsthaus Zurich, Switzerland, among others.

Sharon Ellis
Intimate Terrain
November 12, 2016 - January 7, 2017
Christopher Grimes Gallery is also presenting a solo exhibition of new paintings by Sharon Ellis, representing her first ever show of works on paper. Ellis continues to mine the trajectory of Symbolism with its imaginary dream worlds, however now she has turned her attention toward making more intimate works on paper. Using light as the primary medium, Ellis juxtaposes light and dark values, creating seemingly sculptural forms and deep spaces. Her subjects are rendered with multiple layers of transparent glazes, resulting in surfaces that are spacious and immaterial. While it typically takes one year to make a work on canvas, this change in material and scale allows Ellis to work more spontaneously and offers her the opportunity to explore her ideas with greater fluidity.

The gallery aalso announced that Ellis is featured in the new book by Dave Hickey, Twenty Five Women: Essays on Their Art.

Sharon Ellis lives and works in Yucca Valley, CA. Her work is currently on view in the exhibition Explode Every Day: An Inquiry into the Phenomena of Wonder at MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA. Previous exhibitions include Experience 19: Touch at the El Segundo Museum of Art, El Segundo, CA (2015); Eden’s Edge: Art in L.A. at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA (2007); and POPulence (2005), curated by David Pagel, which traveled throughout the United States. In 2002 the Long Beach Museum of Art organized a ten-year survey of Ellis’ work entitled Evocations, which traveled to the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH and the San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA. Ellis was also included in Flower Power at Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille, France (2004).

“[Ellis’ paintings] give everything and ask nothing. Their scale betrays no demand for an august setting, no aspiration to public oratory or civic circumstance, no interference of the artist’s heroic persona, or any urgent necessity to persuade.” - Dave Hickey