The Middle of White: Sara Blyth-Stephens + Michelle Grabner

The Middle of White:
Sarah Blyth-Stephens + Michelle Grabner

May 7^th—28^th, 2011

Opening reception: Saturday, May 7^th, 7:00 – 10:00 pm

Cincinnati, OH—U·turn Art Space is proud to present new works by Sara Blyth-Stephens and Michelle Grabner in the May exhibition, The Middle of White. Blyth-Stephens’ sculptures are created on site by pouring and splashing Hydro-cal (a plaster like material) across curtains of plastic that are removed after the works have dried, leaving delicate white records of their active production. Grabner’s works on paper are also accumulations of gestures: straight marks are drawn repeatedly in metal point across sheets that have been primed with black gesso. As the delicate metal lines tarnish, each work takes on a unique character of subtle hues and variation across the page’s surfaces. By calling attention to the materials, methods and gestures they employ, both artists create highly formalist artworks that are humanized by evident handiwork. The predominantly white sculptures and black works on paper come together in a high contrast pairing that shares similar conceptual impulses.

Blyth-Stephens’ use of restraint in her manipulation of a material allows it to be itself profoundly. Whether working with tinkling sheets of aluminum foil hung like curtains in a gallery, creating forms from balloons that deflate over the course of an exhibition or working on location with liquid hydro-cal as she is doing in U·turn, the physical properties of the works and how they can change over time is of primary interest. In 2010, she pushed this method of working to greater scale, creating a number of works that stood taller than average human height, and curved through spaces like parenthetical dividers. These works become architectural interventions, oscillating between object and demarcation of space. U·turn has invited Blyth-Stephens to respond to the gallery’s nuanced space as well as the placement of Michelle Grabner’s series of works.

Grabner’s process of metal point (and sometimes graphite) on black-coated paper or panel has been ongoing for a number of years. While sometimes basing the ordering of the marks on grids and textile patterns, the works often consist of repeated marks made either vertically, or radiating from a central point, practically filling the surface area. The silvery quality of the lines can, at times, be optically suggestive of space. The tarnishing process of the metal itself is a subtle record of the space and conditions surrounding each work. The labor, repetition and variation involved in these works instill a complexity into what is initially a minimal visual encounter.

Artist Bios

Sarah Blyth-Stephens holds a BA in Art History from Indiana University, a BFA from Ohio State University and an MFA from University of Cincinnati. She has worked closely with Museum Gallery/Gallery Museum in Cincinnati, exhibiting there frequently. She has also presented work at semantics, Cincinnati, OH; Urban Arts Space and the Wexner Center, Columbus, OH; Heuser Gallery at Bradley University, Peoria, IL; University of Tennessee Downtown Gallery, Knoxville, TN; and Zanesville Museum, Zanesville, OH. In 2008, she was awarded a residency at the Vermont Studio Center.

Michelle Grabner is a professor and department chair of the Painting and Drawing at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and along with her husband Brad Killam runs the artist-run exhibition spaces: The Suburban, Oak Park, IL and The Poor Farm, Waupaca County WI. Grabner's work is included in the public collections of the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; MUDAM - Musée d’Art Moderne, Luxemburg; Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. She has exhibited recently at Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, IL; Leo Koenig Projekte, New York, NY; Rocket, London, UK; Minus Space, Brooklyn, NY; and Green Gallery East, Milwaukee, WI.