SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Curator Alexandra Picard and SPACE 151 present San Francisco-based artists Vanesa Gingold and Mary Button Durell in the two-person show, Volupté. This exhibition explores the natural genesis of material and form through light, translucency, surface texture and structure. Bringing together sculpture, painting and drawing, Volupté highlights a series of works that suggest mappings of the intangible formations that sustain us in the physical universe. The exhibition is on view at SPACE 151 from July 20 - September 7, 2017.

Like bees to a hive, Gingold and Durell explore and work tirelessly with paper, pushing the boundaries of physics with an expansive approach towards building organic structures. The resulting works unveil a complexity and beauty that mimics nature’s delicacy and abundance. Through her artistic process, Gingold creates dynamic interiors and exteriors that at once conceal and reveal the surface and structure of her pieces. In her suspended sculptural works, delicate handmade paper stretches and tears over intricately constructed armatures, suggesting human body parts in various states of genesis or decay. Working chiefly with tracing paper and wheat paste, Durell explores the nuances and intricacies of the material and its visual capacity for transformation. By way of layering and patterns, predominant motifs emerge as her work recalls the infinite organic fabrics that make up the natural world, from the ethereal and cosmic to microcosmic constructions.

From these organic creations comes a new and expanded understanding of the connection between and importance of humanity and the universe. Seeking out the similarities between clusters of cells and groupings of galaxies or city maps and capillaries running through enervated tissue, both artists demonstrate the striking similarities of the systems that sustain us from the macro to the micro level. The fragile balance and harmony that emanates from each piece is grounded in the vulnerability, natural growth and endless expansion of not only natural materials, but of the artists themselves.

Of her decision to pair the work of Mary Button Durell and Vanesa Gingold, Curator Alexandra Picard stated:

Through their joint focus on process, Gingold and Durell transform their materials to achieve elegantly balanced forms that show the mark of time and a physical and conceptual maturation at the intersection of levity, strength and beauty. It is through their expertly constructed sculptures that the audience comes to realize that we are all connected by invisible elements that make us part of the human race as well as a part of the universe.

Alexandra Picard
Originally from France, Picard is a practicing artist whose work and curatorial projects focus on the integration of art and life through structural works that convey a sense of journey, perception and discovery.

Vanesa Gingold
Gingold received her MFA in 2016 from UC Santa Barbara. She has worked with numerous galleries, museums and organizations, including the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Creativity Explored, San Francisco Arts Commission and the University of California as an artist, curator and teacher.

Mary Button Durell
Durell studied at California College of the Arts and San Francisco Art Institute. She has since exhibited internationally and in the Bay Area at Headlands Center for the Arts, Southern Exposure, Limn Gallery, San Francisco Arts Commission and in exhibitions curated by Heather Marx and Jenny Sharaf.