Tuesday, May 27, 2014

things thrown upwards-- A solo show by Claire Ashley

Lula Café Summer Show
June 3 - September 9, 2014
Opening Reception June 10, 6-9pm





In Things Thrown Upwards Ashley presents a cross section of her work as sculptor, painter and visual slapstick artist. The show features painted panels, stuffed forms and fabric wall hangings, all marked with Ashley's exuberant neon spray painted mark making. Ashley's work is a playful exploration of the intersection of painting and sculpture, many of her hand made inflatable sculptures begin as two dimensional silhouettes, sewn together and then inflated or stuffed cartoonishly into buoyant, quivering, misshapen forms. Paint sprayed on the objects' surfaces in their various states retains a record of its peculiar dimensionality in the way it skips over wrinkles and drips along fault lines. In shape, color and gesture the work toys with the overlap of, on the one hand, goofy, cartoonish exuberance rendered in industrial materials, and on the other a sublime, unexpectedly beautiful play of color and shape that draws you up short and exemplifies the most profound possibilities of contemporary painting. 

                             


Artist Bio:
Claire Ashley grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland. She received a BFA from Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen and her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she currently teaches. She has exhibited her work widely in North America and in the UK. She lives in Oak Park, IL.