Gaela Erwin: Mother

On View: July 15 - Aug. 13

Opening Reception: July 15,  6 -8 p.m.

Gaela Erwin’s work documents a life of self-reflection. Primarily composed in oil or pastel, her art navigates the space between psychoanalysis and art therapy. Her earliest work in this vein was dominated by self-portraiture. However, “Mother” marks a transformation in her practice from self-analysis into explorations of grief, caretaking, and family dynamics. “Mother” chronicles the last days of the artist’s mother, an event that served as a pivot to both family portraiture and to painting and drawing from photography. These very personal images, often composed in the style or format of neoclassical portraiture or saintly icons, fold the life of the artist into the history of art. In so doing, they transform the deeply personal and specific into the timeless and universal.

Conceived in collaboration with the Speed Art Museum, “Mother” offers a point of entry into the exhibition “Gaela Erwin: Reframing the Past,” on view at the Speed from July 30 until October 30. “Mother” features work that preceded “Reframing the Past," along with photographic studies and documentation of Erwin’s practice. Altogether, the Cressman exhibition stands as both a memorial and a study in art, care, and grief. 

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Cressman Center for Visual Art
100 E. Main Street , Kentucky 40202

Event Type

Arts, Exhibit

Audience

Students, Faculty/staff, Alumni, Public

Departments

Arts & Sciences, Fine Arts, Hite Art Institute

Website

http://louisville.edu/art/exhibitions...

Cost

Free

Contact Name

Jessica Kincaid

Contact Phone Number

502-852-4437

Contact Email

jessica.kincaid@louisville.edu

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