FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Regen Projects
633 North Almont Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90069
Tel. (310) 276-5424
Fax. (310) 276-7430
SUE WILIAMS
December 2, 2006–January 13, 2007
Gallery Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Opening Reception: Saturday, December 2, 6:00 to 8:00 pm
Regen Projects is pleased to present an exhibition of new paintings and drawings by Sue Williams. Williams' work gained attention in the late 80's when her work echoed and argued with Post-Feminist dialogues. Williams' early paintings and sculpture used text and the figure to reflect on explicit themes.
In recent years Williams' focus has shifted toward the idea of formalism in painting. Williams has become less concerned with specific illustration and more interested in merging figurative representation and abstraction, combining and slipping between the two while avoiding the limitations of the genres. The figures of the earlier comic-strip like works have been reduced to lines, and it is now the expressive brushed and poured lines that become the subject occupying an empty background. The idea of skilled painting is given an almost ironical treatment with nods to the Abstract Expressionists, but at the same time there is a lush painterly quality. In contrast to the consensus on the use of technical media such as photography and video which is predominant in the feminist artists' critique, Williams insists on discussing her concerns within the traditionally patriarchal domain that is painting.
The new paintings are dominated by forceful red lines, articulated by allusions to anatomy on a background that looks like raw canvas. They are heavily influenced by the Government's current global foreign policy and war in Iraq, drawing our attention to the bloody aftermath of bombing with a visual vocabulary of dismembered body parts. Despite their narrative Williams' paintings are infused with irony, wit and humor while at the same time an exploration of the process of abstract painting.
"The visual impact of Williams' work is dependent to some degree on the viewer's ease in negotiating the two step process by which most of the paintings reveal themselves. For most, the initial vantage-point is from a middle distance, whereupon the paintings appear mostly as lyrical abstractions, their elegant linear passages seeming to describe nothing more than graceful arabesques in space. This formalist perspective soon gives way to a more detailed examination of the lines themselves, at which point the explicit details of exaggerated body parts are more clearly exposed. Even within these limited parameters, Williams' gift for painterly improvisation is remarkable."
(Dan Cameron. Sue Williams, published by Secession, Austria and IVAM, Spain, 2003, p. 40)
Williams' work has been the subject of exhibitions throughout Europe, Asia, and the U.S. Recent solo exhibitions include the Secession, Vienna, Austria and the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, Palm Beach, Florida; Centre d'art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland; San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California.
Monographs of Williams' work have been published by Secession, Vienna, Austria; Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, Valencia, Spain; the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, Palm Beach, Florida.
An opening reception for Sue Williams will take place on Saturday, December 2, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. For further information please contact Yasmine Rahimzadeh or Jennifer Loh at (310) 276-5424.
Upcoming Exhibitions:
John Bock: January 20th - February 24th 2007
Elizabeth Peyton: March 3rd - March 31st 2007
Regen Projects
633 North Almont Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90069
Tel. (310) 276-5424
Fax. (310) 276-7430
SUE WILIAMS
December 2, 2006–January 13, 2007
Gallery Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Opening Reception: Saturday, December 2, 6:00 to 8:00 pm
Regen Projects is pleased to present an exhibition of new paintings and drawings by Sue Williams. Williams' work gained attention in the late 80's when her work echoed and argued with Post-Feminist dialogues. Williams' early paintings and sculpture used text and the figure to reflect on explicit themes.
In recent years Williams' focus has shifted toward the idea of formalism in painting. Williams has become less concerned with specific illustration and more interested in merging figurative representation and abstraction, combining and slipping between the two while avoiding the limitations of the genres. The figures of the earlier comic-strip like works have been reduced to lines, and it is now the expressive brushed and poured lines that become the subject occupying an empty background. The idea of skilled painting is given an almost ironical treatment with nods to the Abstract Expressionists, but at the same time there is a lush painterly quality. In contrast to the consensus on the use of technical media such as photography and video which is predominant in the feminist artists' critique, Williams insists on discussing her concerns within the traditionally patriarchal domain that is painting.
The new paintings are dominated by forceful red lines, articulated by allusions to anatomy on a background that looks like raw canvas. They are heavily influenced by the Government's current global foreign policy and war in Iraq, drawing our attention to the bloody aftermath of bombing with a visual vocabulary of dismembered body parts. Despite their narrative Williams' paintings are infused with irony, wit and humor while at the same time an exploration of the process of abstract painting.
"The visual impact of Williams' work is dependent to some degree on the viewer's ease in negotiating the two step process by which most of the paintings reveal themselves. For most, the initial vantage-point is from a middle distance, whereupon the paintings appear mostly as lyrical abstractions, their elegant linear passages seeming to describe nothing more than graceful arabesques in space. This formalist perspective soon gives way to a more detailed examination of the lines themselves, at which point the explicit details of exaggerated body parts are more clearly exposed. Even within these limited parameters, Williams' gift for painterly improvisation is remarkable."
(Dan Cameron. Sue Williams, published by Secession, Austria and IVAM, Spain, 2003, p. 40)
Williams' work has been the subject of exhibitions throughout Europe, Asia, and the U.S. Recent solo exhibitions include the Secession, Vienna, Austria and the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, Palm Beach, Florida; Centre d'art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland; San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California.
Monographs of Williams' work have been published by Secession, Vienna, Austria; Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, Valencia, Spain; the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, Palm Beach, Florida.
An opening reception for Sue Williams will take place on Saturday, December 2, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. For further information please contact Yasmine Rahimzadeh or Jennifer Loh at (310) 276-5424.
Upcoming Exhibitions:
John Bock: January 20th - February 24th 2007
Elizabeth Peyton: March 3rd - March 31st 2007