NEW ORLEANS, La—Soren Christensen is pleased to present Under the Spell of the Rose Moon, the 4th solo gallery exhibition of Los Angeles-based artist Melissa Herrington. The show features a stunning new body of colorful abstractions on canvas and paper.
This abstract series explores the complexities of transformation, literally and metaphorically, through the female form. Each work functions as both an individual entity and as a part of a larger theme. Herrington explores spontaneous, marks and subtle forms through abstraction. Recurring figural motifs repeat throughout the paintings, acting as a sort of visual vocabulary. Painted gestures are used to compose the picture as the whole. Layers are fundamental to her imagery and process, infusing each work with multiple surfaces. Loosely sketched female forms blend into blushing pinks, whites and grays, contrasted by whole abstracted fields, as colors exhale forth an intimate narrative. At the heart of Herrington's artistic practice is an unmistakable relationship between distilled color and form. She is painting women’s stories one layer at a time.
Standing before a singular canvas in this series, one is immediately drawn in by a strong and powerful presence. In these new works, there is a feeling that the susurrus of the "Rose Moon” is mysteriously pulling the contoured figurative shapes to the surface from a sea of the abstract. Similar to a ghost moving across a landscape, this unfinished fluidity represents an unfolding of new possibilities, allowing the viewer to experience a feeling of wonder.
With this body of work, Herrington’s sense of femininity continues to reign throughout these new paintings. Her abstracted work, the idea of identity, and her feminist language remain prevalent. Like the “Rose Moon” keeping her course while gently influencing, Herrington's paintings once again seek to cast us under her spell.
Othered, the 4th solo gallery exhibition by Maine-based artist Daniel Minter continues from May in the rear gallery. The show will feature a body of work produced during the artist’s 2018 residency at the art department of The University of Southern Maine. This series of congruent Black portraiture and landscapes references the Malaga Island story, a little- known piece of American history that the artist has spent the last decade exploring in his work, and exposing/illuminating that history for Maine residents and beyond.
The exhibitions will run from May 28th- June 29th, with the opening reception on Saturday, June 1st from 6:00-8:00 pm in participation with the First Saturday Art Walk in the Arts District of New Orleans.