Karen Gelardi: “In the Outside”
JANUARY 2011
Gallery 37-A is pleased to present Karen Gelardi ”In the Outside” an installation that configures and re-combines Gelardi’s work across a variety of media. Gelardi’s practice includes drawing, painting, printmaking and the adoption of entrepreneurial and industrial practices to originate and distribute new works. Gelardi is recognized for her collaborative practice, most notably as a key contributor to Andrea Zittel’s “Smockshop”.
“In the Outside” is open from February 4 – February 27
Opening Reception First Friday February 4th 6-10pm.
About Karen Gelardi
Karen Gelardi lives and works in South Portland, Maine. She studied painting at Rhode Island School of Design and has been influenced by the design and manufacturing processes of her family’s plastics factory in Biddeford, Maine. She has exhibited widely throughout Maine and recently had her first show in New York City at Coleman Burke Gallery. Karen is a “Smocker” in Andrea Zittel’s internationally exhibitedSmockshop, and a “Panelist” in Zittel’s newest artist enterprise Group Formerly Known as Smockshop.
Collaging together her customized raw materials and components with a handmade, cut and sew approach, Karen Gelardi’s fabric, ink, papier maché constructions, and oil paintings explore ideas about resiliency, adaptation, and a re-invented nature.
Karen Gelardi on IN THE OUTSIDE
“Man-made structures and plants share territory. I am interested in the visual forms of their conflicting natures and the areas where they meet. Exploring in an abstracted way the notion of city blocks being transformed into farmland, weeds pushing through concrete, potted plants sitting on a front stoop—how these areas mix organic and architectural structures, and the emotions and psychology associated with this back and forth between the two.” —Karen Gelardi
