We often like to discover artists and artworks that are beyond the ordinary. This time we found in New York a powerful all-female ensemble of art that breaks boundaries.
“Attached” is an unusual exploration of paintings that challenges the expressive and conceptual possibilities of the medium of collage. The contemporary artists Melissa Meyer, Meghan Brady and Sara Faux, led by the pioneer of collage Anne Ryan (1889-1954), show works that are very different in execution, but are jointly attached to a parallel sensitivity of collage, layering, treasuring and processing parts of the whole.
Sarah Faux, Piriformis, 2019, dye, acrylic and oil on cut canvas, 72 x 49 in.
The exhibition was held at the art gallery of the New York Studio School in Manhattan, a space that sometimes show unexpected never-seen before works by old and new masters. It was curated by the British artist and Dean Graham Nickson and Rachel Rickert.
Meghan Brady, Future Figure I, 2018, collage on paper, acrylic, backed with Tyvek, 110 x 91 in.
As soon as we entered the gallery space, we were awed to see the daring and almost deliberate two wall-sized paper pieces by Meghan Brady. Almost in contrast there were Sarah Faux’s more delicate and shapely approaches to the female posture and condition. Then the forceful brush strokes of Melissa Meyer’s watercolor assemblages suggested abstracted symbolism in vibrant colors contained within a cool geometrical set up, followed by a series of smaller, honest and form seeking works by Anne Ryan.
There are many shows in New York to see, but this was an eye opener, and one that reflected a specific aspect of feminine art, an approach to attachment to the detail, the secretive, the particular, the unseen, the insistent sensitivity and care and a courageous love for beauty.
* Images on slider:
Melissa Meyer, Rearrangement Series #8, 2019, collaged watercolors on paper, 17 1/2 x 32 in.
Anne Ryan, Untitled (No. 549), c. 1948-54, Collage, 17 3/4 x 39 3/4 in., Courtesy of Washburn Gallery
