Forum Gallery, New York
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Holly Lane
- Additional Information -
New York, NY Beginning on May 1, Forum Gallery will exhibit A Special Presentation of a New Work by Holly Lane. Upon Waking is a major wall installation, twelve feet in width and five feet high. Upon Waking will be exhibited along with drawings and photographs of the work in progress. Holly Lane's unique art defies simple categorization and blurs the lines between sculpture, painting and conceptual installation. Upon Waking consists of five conjoined, intricately carved and gilded pieces that contain seven paintings and incorporate spaces that reveal the wall behind. The work is reminiscent of a time when artists grappled with symbol, myth and the universal issues of life and death and were valued as much for their craftsmanship as for their creativity.
In the central painting, a dropped book spills out words and letters that had once been intelligibly arranged into knowledge - demonstrating the confusion created by the unexpected. A broken wall indicates that protective barriers eventually erode.
Two small paintings show calamities that prompt ontological rethinking. A snake lurches out of a hole to ambush a lizard, symbolizing devastation and regeneration. Cracking hearts against the red sky are the pictorial metaphor for the calamity of death itself.
Directly above the two small paintings are larger images of the world reconsidered. On the left, a corporate businessman and an Australian aboriginal cooperate, stretching a rope to create a pleasing perch for birds. On the right, above death, a cellist plays music to those who have died.
Two paintings or lunettes at the top of the work are landscapes of solace, moon and dawn: lit expanses where one can be at peace.
The wall spaces showing through the open structure of the meticulous, intricate carving represent the wider world that stands behind and inconspicuously informs our thinking. In the formal language of proximity, elaboration, pattern, gaps and edges suggest interlocking potential. The carved surround replicates how the mind loosely links together a mental construct of the world - a construct wherein the gaps in our understanding play a key, and sometimes fateful, role.
As an artist, Holly Lane has chosen this work as a commentary on how individuals observe, listen and take in new experiences and ideas in order to piece together an understanding of the world.
A Special Presentation of a New Work by Holly Lane opens with a reception on May 1 from 5:30 7:30 pm, and will be on view through May 31, 2003.
For additional information contact: Ms. Bonnie Meyers
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