Amy Ellingson: Recursions

Amy Ellingson

Recursions

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Amy Ellingson

Recursions

Charles Cowles Gallery, New YorkSeptember 2 - October 4, 2008

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My interests lie in the practices of formal repetition, variation and mutation within limited se-rial systems and networks. The paintings consist of many interrelated layers of repeating geo-metric forms—lines, arcs, and grids—that I compose on the computer. I replicate these basic elements into an increasingly complex field that I then render in discreet layers of oil and en-caustic paint. Using ephemeral, computer-generated images exclusively as my source material, I create paintings that physically assert themselves through the materiality and permanence of historical painting media. The translation from the ‘virtual’ to the ‘real’ is paramount.

I create groups of paintings that function as self-referential systems. Within these groups of closely related paintings, the works progress logically, beginning with pairs or quads of nearly identical ‘siblings’ that appear different because the order of the painted layers is shuffled. Otherwise, they are materially, physically identical in color, form, composition, and technique. Thus, each painting functions as a self-contained individual, and as a member of a group or network. The groups culminate in large works that exhibit an expansion of the compositional field—a disintegration of the regularity of the forms, and an increasing spatial perspective. These works represent a break—a shift, a digression—or perhaps, a beginning or an ending. Differentiation within the closed system allows for comparison and the assertion of identity. ‘Familial’ repetition within each group of paintings is a means of suggesting multiplicity and transformation through the language of abstraction.

My recent series of gouache works on paper are based on the skeletal, or ‘wire-frame’ ver-sions of the forms that comprise the vernacular of my paintings. These works are the result of a direct and immediate investigation of the relationship between the computer, the projector and the hand, restrained by the careful application of thin, painted lines in a reduced palette of grey tones.

Amy Ellingson San Francisco, 2008

Recursions

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Identical/Variation (pink, blue, green, black) #1

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Recursions installation

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No. 062008.01

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No. 062008.02

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No. 062008.03

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No. 062008.04

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Variation/Mutation (black, red, blue, white)

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Recursions installation

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Identical/Variation (erratic pink and white) #1

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Identical/Variation (erratic pink and white) #2

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Variation/Mutation (green, blue, black, white)

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No. 070308.01

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Variation/Mutation (umber, red, violet, white)

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LIST OF WORKS

Cover:

[detail]Identical/Variation (erratic pink and white) #2, 2008Oil and encaustic on panel. 66 x 46 x 2 in.

Page 2:

[detail]Variation/Mutation (cascade), 2008Oil and encaustic on four panels. 132 x 78 x 2 in.

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[detail]Variation/Mutation (cascade), 2008Oil and encaustic on four panels. 132 x 78 x 2 in.

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Variation/Mutation (cascade), 2008Oil and encaustic on four panels. 132 x 78 x 2 in.

Page 6:

Identical/Variation (pink, blue, green, black) #1, 2007Oil and encaustic on panel. 36 x 36 x 2 in.

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[detail]Identical/Variation (pink, blue, green, black) #3, 2007Oil and encaustic on panel. 36 x 36 x 2 in.

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Recursions, installation, Charles Cowles Gallery, New York.September 2-October 4, 2008

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No. 062008.01, 2008Graphite and gouache on Rising Stonehenge paperImage dimensions: 36 x 36 in.Paper dimensions: 38 x 38 in.Framed dimensions approx. 41 x 41 in.

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Page 15:


Pages 16 and 17:

Variation/Mutation (black, red, blue, white), 2007-08 Oil and encaustic on two panels.36 x 144 x 2 in.

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[detail]Variation/Mutation (black, red, blue, white), 2007-08 Oil and encaustic on two panels.36 x 144 x 2 in.

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Page 20:

Identical/Variation (erratic pink and white) #1, 2008Oil and encaustic on panel. 66 x 46 x 2 in.

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Identical/Variation (erratic pink and white) #2, 2008Oil and encaustic on panel. 66 x 46 x 2 in.

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[detail]Variation/Mutation (green, blue, black, white), 2008Oil and encaustic on two panels. 78 x 72 x 2in.

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Variation/Mutation (green, blue, black, white), 2008Oil and encaustic on two panels. 78 x 72 x 2in.

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Pages 28 and 29:

[detail]No. 070308.01, 2008Graphite and gouache on Rising Stonehenge paperImage dimensions: 36 x 96 in.Paper dimensions: 38 x 98 in.Framed dimensions approx. 43 x 103 in.

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[detail]Variation/Mutation (umber, red, violet, white), 2008Oil and encaustic on two panels. 72 x 78 x 2in.

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Variation/Mutation (umber, red, violet, white), 2008Oil and encaustic on two panels. 72 x 78 x 2in.

Photography by R.R. Jones

Installation photography by Bill Orcutt

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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 Civi-tella 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.

Amy Ellingson: Recursions

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