Amy Ellingson: SUMMER FRIEZE

Amy Ellingson

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SUMMER FRIEZE

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Amy Ellingson SUMMER FRIEZE

Haines Gallery, San Francisco June 3 - August 20, 2010

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Studio, May 2010

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SUMMER FRIEZE This group of twenty-four new paintings, Inverse Studies, began as an experiment. The works represent the rediscovery and integration of a more intuitive painting method, contrasted with a geometric module. In SUMMER FRIEZE, they are presented in a linear installation, with the paintings placed at irregular intervals over a varying progression of laser-cut vinyl elements, composed in situ.

I began the works by establishing some simple rules: each painting has no more than five succinct steps, with at least one of those steps involving the immediate, intuitive application of paint; each is different in terms of color, mood, and paint handling; and each is finished with the same encaustic grid of nine oblong forms. The inclusion of free painting defies my established methodology of predetermining all elements of the painting via digital technology. In the Inverse Studies, the encaustic layer is reversed so that the underpainting is only partially revealed through the geometric template.

In general, my work exaggerates the dichotomy between the lightning-fast process of digital rendering and the painstaking, glacially slow method of execution through traditional oil and encaustic painting techniques. The translation from the ‘virtual’ to the ‘real’ —from the flat, slick realm of electronic data to the textural, sensual materiality of paint—is paramount.

SUMMER FRIEZE is a continuation of my interest in creating self-reflexive formal systems that contrast the digital and handmade; in this case, more pointedly, due to the use of free painting in opposition to the vinyl elements. The installation employs the familiar vernacular of my ongoing work, yet it is more flexible, variable and improvisational.

Amy Ellingson San Francisco, 2010

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SUMMER FRIEZE installation

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SUMMER FRIEZE installation

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SUMMER FRIEZE installation

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SUMMER FRIEZE installation

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SUMMER FRIEZE installation

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SUMMER FRIEZE installation

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Inverse Study #1 12

Inverse Study #2 13

Inverse Study #3 14

Inverse Study #4 15

Inverse Study #5 16

Inverse Study #6 17

Inverse Study #7 18

Inverse Study #8 19

Inverse Study #9 20

Inverse Study #10 21

Inverse Study #11 22

Inverse Study #12 23

Inverse Study #13 24

Inverse Study #14 25

Inverse Study #15 26

Inverse Study #16 27

Inverse Study #17 28

Inverse Study #18 29

Inverse Study #19 30

Inverse Study #20 31

Inverse Study #21 32

Inverse Study #22 33

Inverse Study #23 34

Inverse Study #24 35

Single image photography by R.R.. Jones

Installation photography by John Janca, Artbot Photography

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Studio photography by Amy Ellingson

LIST OF WORKS

Cover: SUMMER FRIEZE, installation, Haines Gallery, San Francisco.

June 3-August 20, 2010 Page 2: Studio, May 2010 Page 4 and 5: SUMMER FRIEZE, installation, Haines Gallery, San Francisco.

June 3-August 20, 2010 Pages 6 and 7: SUMMER FRIEZE, installation, Haines Gallery, San Francisco.

June 3-August 20, 2010 Pages 8 and 9: SUMMER FRIEZE, installation, Haines Gallery, San Francisco.

June 3-August 20, 2010 Pages 10 and 11: SUMMER FRIEZE, installation, Haines Gallery, San Francisco.

June 3-August 20, 2010 Page 12: Inverse Study #1, 2009 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

Page 13: Inverse Study #2, 2009 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

Page 14: Inverse Study #3, 2009 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

Page 15: Inverse Study #4, 2009 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

Inverse Study #6, 2009 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

Inverse Study #16, 2010 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

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Inverse Study #7, 2009 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

Inverse Study #17, 2010 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

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Inverse Study #8, 2009 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

Inverse Study #18, 2010 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

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Inverse Study #9, 2010 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

Inverse Study #19, 2010 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

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Inverse Study #10, 2010 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

Inverse Study #20, 2010 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

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Inverse Study #11, 2010 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

Inverse Study #21, 2010 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

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Inverse Study #12, 2010 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

Inverse Study #22, 2010 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

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Inverse Study #13, 2010 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

Inverse Study #23, 2010 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

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Inverse Study #14, 2010 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

Inverse Study #24, 2010 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

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Inverse Study #15, 2010 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

Inverse Study #5, 2009 Oil and encaustic on panel 16 x 12 x 1 in.

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Page 36: Studio, May 2010

Amy Ellingson’s paintings have been exhibited nationally, most recently at Haines Gallery in San Francisco and Charles Cowles Gallery in New York. Notable group exhibitions include Bay Area Now 3 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; Neo Mod: Recent Northern California Abstraction at the Crocker Art Museum; and Nineteen Going on Twenty: Recent Acquisitions from the Collection, The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii. Ellingson is the recipient of the 2009 Fleishhacker Foundation Eureka Fellowship, the 2007 Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship and the Artadia 1999 Grant to Individual Artists. Her work is held in various public and corporate collections, including the Oakland Museum of California, the U.S. Embassies in Tunisia and Algeria, and the Contemporary Museum in Hawaii. Ellingson’s paintings have been reviewed in numerous publications, including The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, NYArts Magazine, Art issues., and Kunstbeeld. She received a B.A. in Studio Art from Scripps College and an M.F.A. from CalArts. Ellingson lives and works in San Francisco.

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