Opening Thursday 25 May
6.30pm
YOU MAY NOT BELIEVE IN MAGIC…
Amy Crehore, Ilaria Del Monte, Camille Rose Garcia, Anne Siems
curated by Michela D’Acquisto
Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea is proud to present You May Not Believe In Magic…, a group show curated by Michela D’Acquisto.
The works of the artists Amy Crehore, Ilaria Del Monte, Camille Rose Garcia and Anne Siems are permeated by a subtle atmosphere of mystery that subverts the ordinariness of the scenarios depicted, positioning them in the liminal territory where appearance and reality, blending, coexist.
It is a not easily definable quid that which, subtly insinuating itself within compositions rendered with detailed accuracy, lends a disorienting quality to the otherwise lucid representation of the world: a confluence of magical elements, ascribable as much to the literary genre of fairy tale as to popular folklore and myth.
The timeless harmony of the depiction is disturbed by details that transcend the rules of logic; we are therefore in the presence of works that superimpose sensible reality and visible reality, thus revealing the wonderful aspects of the latter and making the hidden structures that govern it undeniable – «you may not believe in magic but something very strange is happening at this very moment» . [1]
Heirs of Magical Realism, the genre that, starting from the twenties of the last century, has been emphasizing the intrinsic wonder of the world, the artists are influenced in the same way by Neue Sachlichkeit and Valori Plastici, by Jorge Luis Borges’ stories and Dino Buzzati’s ones, revisiting these suggestions according to their own style: the resulting works invite to an awakening of the sensibility and propose a vision of the world mediated by the sublime.
In the gallery will be present paintings, works on paper and hand-painted ukuleles.
[1] LEONORA CARRINGTON, The Hearing Trumpet, London, Penguin Classics, 2005.
Amy Crehore was born in Virginia in 1953 and grows up between Pennsylvania and New Jersey, coming back to her home state to study art: after a BFA in Communication Arts And Design at Virginia Commonwealth University, she moves to the East Coast – and, for a short period, to England – finally settling in Oregon, where she currently lives.
Starting from 1991 she starts working as an illustrator for Esquire, Playboy, Rolling Stone and other major magazines and publishing houses.
Her awards-winning works belong to prestigious private collections and have been exhibited in international galleris and American museums, such as: 2016, 11th Blab! Show, Copro Gallery, Santa Monica; 2016, Christmas Circus, Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea, Milano; 2015, Ephemeral – Territory Of Girls, Jiro Miura Gallery, Tokyo; 2011, Buy What You Love, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York; 2011, Song Of The Sirens, Last Rites Gallery, New York; 2009, Dreamgirls And Ukes, Thinkspace Gallery, Los Angeles; 2007, Art Benefit For Literacy, Portland Art Museum, Portland; 2007, Literartistry, Corey Helford Gallery, Culver City; 2006, Sweetest Taboo, Roq La Rue Gallery, Seattle; 2003, Dreams, Museum Of American Illustration, New York.
Ilaria Del Monte (Taranto, 1985) lives between Matera and Milan, where in 2008 she receives a degree in Painting from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera and in 2010 she furthers her education in Visual Arts at the same academy.
Selected solo exhibitions: 2015, Sussurri, Galleria Punto Sull’Arte, Varese; 2014, Out Of This World, Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea, Milano; 2013, Quando Teresa Si Arrabbiò Con Dio, Scatolabianca, Milano; 2012, P.G.R. Per Grazia Ricevuta, Riva Arte Contemporanea, Lecce; 2011, The Window’s Tales, Roberta Lietti Arte Contemporanea, Como.
Selected group shows: 2016, II Biennale Di Salerno, Palazzo Fruscione, Salerno; 2015, Imago Mundi, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino; 2014, Aliens, Palazzo Dell’Ariosto, Ferrara; 2013, Shop Le Jeux D’Amour, Galleria Ostrakon, Milano; 2012, Something Else, Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea, Milano.
Camille Rose Garcia (Los Angeles, 1970) grows up in the suburbs of Orange County, where from the young age of fourteen she apprentices for her mother, a muralist painter.
Following a MFA at the University Of California – Davis, she undertakes an artistic career as one of the protagonists of international Lowbrow art.
Selected solo exhibitions: 2011, Snow White And The Black Lagoon, Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles; 2010, Down The Rabbit Hole, Merry Karnowsky Gallery, Los Angeles; 2008, Ambien Somnambulants, Jonathan Levine Gallery, New York; 2007, Tragic Kingdom, San Jose Museum Of Art, San Jose; 2005, The Saddest Place On Earth, Grand Central Art Center, Santa Ana.
Selected group shows: 2010, Art From The New World, Bristol Museum, Bristol; 2008, In The Land Of Retinal Delights, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach; 2004, Spinning Yarns, Riviera Gallery, New York; 2003, Recent Works, Roq La Rue Gallery, Seattle; 2002, Juxtapoz 8th Anniversary Show, Track 16 Gallery, Los Angeles.
Anne Siems (Berlin, 1965) in 1986 studies for a year in the United States as an exchange student winner of a Fulbright scholarship and, after a MFA in Painting at the Hochschule Der Kunste in Berlin, in 1991 she moves to Seattle, where she currently lives.
Her works have won important awards and are part of many private and public collections: to name a few, American Airlines, Seattle; Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock; Boise Art Museum, Boise; Hallmark Collection, New York; Microsoft Collection, Redmond.
Selected solo exhibitions: 2016, Drawings, Walker Contemporary, Boston; 2015, Dream Lessons, Laura Russo Gallery, Portland; 2014, Old Growth, Grover Thurston Gallery, Seattle; 2013, A Careful Observation Of Daylight, Obsolete, Venice; 2011, Paintings, Littlejohn Contemporary, New York.
Selected group shows: 2016, Her Story, Walker Contemporary, Boston; 2012, 200 Years Of Grimm Fairy Tales, Goethe Institute, San Francisco; 2011, Taste, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle; 2009, Visage: Face Revisited, Rockford Art Museum, Rockford; 1998, Works On Paper, The Armory, New York.
