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Angela Fraleigh,
in this moment, 2007, oil on panel, 72” x
96"
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James Harris gallery is pleased to present if not, winter an
exhibition that includes both monumental paintings and intimate
works-on-paper by New York-based painter, Angela Fraleigh. Regardless
of scale, Fraleigh’s work is unified by an unrelenting inquiry
into social constructs of beauty and gender. Obscuring stereotypical
imagery of couples caught in embrace with ambiguous power structures,
the work is fueled by tension. Vulnerable figures embrace, but revulsion
and desire, violence and lust appear in tandem. Distinguishing pleasure
from struggle is complicated by the rich pours of paint that grip
the figures and often envelopes the compositions.
The exhibition will consist of two grand paintings. In both works,
two figures tumble across the canvas awash a sea of color. In one,
the figures are camouflaged by pours of green, blue and white paint;
in the other, abstract pours dominate less though they too subtly
conceal the figure’s embrace.
This seductive imagery that lies at the root of the work's success
is heightened by Fraleigh's provocative formal process. The artist
begins each painting by exquisitely rendering the gestures of the
figures. Through the medium, Fraleigh captures the nuance and intensity
of passion. Explosive puddles of glossy paint are layered on and
left to leak between the nudes, balancing the work between abstraction
and figuration. The push and pull of the richly colored surface
adds additional layers of tension between the figures, emotional
embraces are ruptured by color.
In addition to the large-scale paintings, there will also be a
number of smaller watercolors in the show. Loosely rendered with
washes of color and pencil, Fraleigh's works-on-paper have an ethereal
atmosphere. The compositions convey spontaneity and movement.
As Claire Barliant, Associate Editor of Artforum stated Fraleigh’s
painting “plays on ambiguities…at once vulnerable and
fierce, concealed and exposed.” if not, winter highlights
these observations, also revealing how masterfully Fraleigh captures
the seductive beauty and powerful fluidity of paint.
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