Lori Field | Small Saints and Silver Linings
Carol Gove | Shared Differences
Opening Reception Saturday January 21st 6-8PM
For her second solo show at Cumberland Gallery, Lori Field presents an array of delicately painted “miniature portraits,” silverpoint drawings, and “wearable sculptures” which she casts in various metals. Titled Small Saints and Silver Linings, this exhibit breaks down her art making process into small individual portraits while showcasing her fantastical narratives, ambiguous characters, and detailed compositions across multiple disciplines. The artist often describes her unconventional and heavily inked subjects as “angels with attitudes” and “intimate strangers.” Field explains, “Drawing and embroidering tattoos on the bodies as a metaphor for memory suggests an assimilation of culturally inscribed messages.” She describes her recent series of “small saints,” as enigmatic, dream-like characters who take on a life outside of the historical world we know, delving again into the realm of mythology. Field is consistent in technical skill and goes to great lengths to achieve pristine line quality and precision of detail. Within her silver point work, she ignites the ancient drawing technique coined by such masters as Leonardo da Vinci and Durer and uses it today to articulate her alternate worlds of floral walls, mystical creatures, and headdresses made of delicate wings. Within the “wearable sculptures,” she offers some of her most peculiar characters such as a silver figure with a tiger’s head standing tall or a bronze horizontal lizard topped by a woman’s head and headdress. Her work, across all mediums, transports viewers to a new place, flowing with characterization and storytelling.
Originally from New Jersey, self-taught artist Lori Field has been showing her work extensively throughout the United States and Germany. She has participated in numerous art fairs including Pulse Miami, Pulse Contemporary NYC, Bridge Art Fair in London, Art on Paper (Brussels), LA Art Fair, and Outsider Art Fair. Field’s honors include a Painting Fellowship from New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and she has held museum shows at Noyes Museum of Art, Jersey State Museum, and Morris Graves Museum of Art (Eureka, CA). Her work is now included in the public collections of those museums as well as Hunterdon Museum of Art and Newark Public Library Print Collection.
New Hampshire artist Carol Gove presents recent work to Nashville in her first solo show at Cumberland Gallery, Shared Differences. As an abstract expressionist, Gove combines a fluidity and opacity of acrylic paint, collage, and personal memorabilia such as old letters, sheet music, and sewing patterns. Applying layers of brilliant hues and hazy washes, Gove achieves a compositional depth while leaving negative space as a resting point for the eye. Connecting this visual experience to her own story, she states, “Remnants of imagery appear and disappear in my work as the materials are washed and worn by layers of paint.” She says, “It is my intent to give the viewer a “glimpse” at a recognizable fragment or common history so that they may be reminded of their own memories when looking at my work.” Gove works in both large and small formats allowing for a wide range of spatial contexts. Some compositions feel weighted with an ambiguous gravity while others seem to hover lightly. Some forms feel compressed while others expand. Broad brush strokes are juxtaposed next to short choppy lines and scraps of paper pointing in varying directions, interrupted by drips of excess paint, all combining to evoke an aggregate of emotions, reactions, and movement.
Carol Gove attended the DeCordova School in Massachusetts and received her B.S. from the University of New Hampshire. Over the last 17 years, she has shown her work in solo and group exhibits across the country, including the Danforth Museum of Art (Massachusetts), New Hampshire Institute of Art, and the University of Texas at Tyler. Gove has gained attention in publications such as Artscope Magazine (Boston 2015), Reno News and Reviews (2015), and Miami Herald Tribune (2006). Public collections include the Wells Fargo Bank in New Jersey, Federal Reserve Bank, and Kodiak Venture Capital in Boston. The artist is an affiliate of DeCordova Museum Corporate Art Program (MA) and the National Association of Women Artists (NY).
Carol Gove is a featured artist in the January issue of Nashville Arts Magazine, click below to read the full review.
