The Abstract Dispatch:
New work by Chelsea Beaudrie, Jenny Gray and Zoe Cohen
April 13th-May 14th, 2022
Artist reception: April 15th, 5:30-7:30
First Friday ArtWalk: May 6th, 5:30-7:30
Karin Clarke Gallery is pleased to present three Eugene artists each expressing her inner vision in the form of bold, abstract painting.
Emerging artist Chelsea Beaudrie was raised in Windsor, Canada, and is primarily self-taught. Her work speaks through layered color, expressive lines, textures, and shapes.
She writes: "I begin every piece closing my eyes, making marks and laying paint down on the canvas. I allow myself to be influenced by the music in my studio, the emotions I'm feeling in the moment and the many things that are consuming my mind. Each brushstroke, subconscious mark, and movement of the paint with my fingers across a canvas is expressing a feeling, an experience, speaking an untold story."
Born in Chicago in 1961, Zoë Cohen was strongly affected by the classic graphic influences of a mid-century urban environment. Everyday exposure to modern architecture, photography, painting, sculpture, and minimalist 1960s design permanently imprinted her mind.
"Although modern, non-representational work is the focus of my studio practice, keeping a sketchbook has become a necessary counterbalance to abstraction. Painting, inspired by the mid-century masters, is my first love. Nevertheless, I find the design aspects of collage made with hand painted papers and re-purposed books impossible to resist."
Perhaps the best-known artist of the group, Jenny Gray received an arts and design education at San Jose State. Jenny shows often in Oregon galleries and her abstract paintings have been collected by individuals and corporations around the world. Gray's work has been featured on sets for Mad Men and West Elm as well as numerous interior design publications.
"I love color, I love the way ink sits on fine paper, and how layers of paint tell a story. I play with composition and color, always refining, changing and creating as I work my way through a piece. I am influenced by many things among them: the Northwest landscape, old barns, old signs, typography, moss, the desert, paper ephemera, vintage textiles, 1950s modern design and art."