Opening reception: Friday, May 16th, 6 - 8pm
Penthouse:
JULIA VON EICHEL
Julia von Eichel
Sara Meltzer Gallery is pleased to present a selection of new works by Julia von Eichel. This exhibition will consist of a series of carved mylar paintings and the artist's recent venture into large-scale sculptural installation. This project is presented in the penthouse level gallery, where additional programming allows the gallery to expand outside its normal scope.
In her previous work, von Eichel abandoned color and etched into thin layers of paint, reducing the act of abstraction to its most bare elements: movement and light. This process allowed the artist to create subtle gradations of light and form, where positive and negative spaces and recognizable images emerged from abstract formations.
von Eichel's work has progressed from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, but it remains firmly rooted in the formal qualities of painting. Expanding on her technique of cutting into paint, von Eichel transforms the expressive qualities of her paintings into spatial configurations, composed of painted mylar, string and strips of tape. The artist sews taut string through the hand-cut mylar "brushstrokes," retaining a sense of fluidity while freezing an action in time and space.
von Eichel draws the inspiration for her forms from a variety of flora and fauna that inhabit her surroundings, and the work has a sense of self-motivated growth: the strings grow into the room and latch onto the walls like climbing vines. But the vines are distinct in their rigidity, and a tension emerges between nature's expression and human control. In both the flat and three-dimensional works, von Eichel explores the manner in which these seemingly organic forms respond to and collaborate with the space they inhabit.
Julia von Eichel's work has been exhibited nationally both as the subject of solo exhibitions and as part of group exhibitions. Her work is included in many public and private collections including Goldman Sachs, Equitable Life Insurance and the Ritz Carlton. In Fall 2008 her work will be part of the "Drawn to Detail" show at the de Cordova Museum. von Eichel was born in Switzerland and raised in Germany and the USA. She lives and works in Brooklyn.