Michelle Stuart: An Archeology of Place
Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles
24 July – 18 September 2021
‘Michelle Stuart: An Archaeology of Place’, 2021, exhibition view, Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Beverly Hills. Courtesy: Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Beverly Hills
‘Michelle Stuart: An Archaeology of Place’, 2021, exhibition view, Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Beverly Hills. Courtesy: Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Beverly Hills
‘Michelle Stuart: An Archaeology of Place’, 2021, exhibition view, Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Beverly Hills. Courtesy: Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Beverly Hills
Michelle Stuart is the subject of a solo show at Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Beverly Hills, California, on public view from 24 July – 18 September 2021.
Titled ‘An Archeology of Place’, this exhibition presents paintings from 1985–90, themselves informed by a selection of drawings from 1969–74, which merge science, botany and the collection of organic specimens in a style that is painterly yet remains deeply connected to the sites from which they are derived. Specimens collected from treks in locations including Alaska, Hawaii, New Mexico, and Arizona are embedded in encaustic and pigment and arranged in modular gridlike patterns that recall the minimalist compositions of artists such as Agnes Martin and Sol LeWitt.
Stuart’s encaustic grid paintings reference the physical and the metaphysical, collapsing time, place, and memory while remaining anchored in their own materiality. A pioneer in the use of non-traditional media, Stuart brings forth imagery by using organic and site-specific materials in unique ways that expand the notion of what art and painting can be.