Amy Kaufman, Ferris 1, 2013, oil on panel, 30 x 25.5"
Traywick Contemporary is pleased to announce an exhibition of recent paintings and works on paper by Bay Area artist Amy Kaufman. This will be her eighth solo show with Traywick Contemporary.
In her latest body of work Kaufman shifts her visual language of pattern-based abstractions, emphasizing the rhythmic energy that defines her work. Exploring the relationship between linear repetitions, blocks of color, broad loops and the grounds on which they are carefully placed, the artist continues her study of scale, proportion, color and media. Kaufman masterfully couples dynamic forms with subtle details, introducing elements that are slightly askew to encourage thoughtful looking.
The artist layers her familiar striped compositions one on top of the other, as if nesting a painting within a painting. The use of bold, contrasting colors sets the floating stripes apart from their like-patterned ground. A simple tilt of the overlaid shape away from center—a formal twist borrowed from the off-center text of Islamic manuscripts—further activates these vibrant paintings. This sense of deliberate imperfection is also evident in Kaufman's new series of drawings, as forms thick with charcoal and pastel leave behind traces of their medium as they jump from page to page. Similarly her imagery of loops and knots suggest an energy that is not bounded by the edges of the canvas, with gestural traces of the artist's hand balancing the bold, graphic pattern of the forms.
Amy Kaufman has exhibited her work extensively throughout the Bay Area and across the country since receiving her fine arts degree from the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1990. Her work is included in numerous public and private collections including the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; San Jose Museum of Art, CA; Fine Arts Museums, San Francisco, CA; The Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA; Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, NC; City of San Jose, CA; Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, CA; Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, CA; and United States Embassies in Hong Kong and Singapore.
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Amy Kaufman, Recent Work
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