Blurred Lines

Blurred Lines includes large-scale drawings on paper by Alice Gibney and new watercolor, mylar, and silver nitrate explorations on glass by Laura Sallade. Through these two material inquiries, the artists explore notions of inner reflection, loss, confusion, and reconciliation. Each work is part of a larger dialogue, be it in conversation with other pieces in the show, and with the overall practice and manipulation of specific materials.

Alice Gibney’s Evolving Out of Chaos and Letting Go illustrate a personal journey of active searching. Gibney’s women are strange and bizarre, often comical in appearance. Armed with pillows, deflated balloons, and Groucho Marx glasses, her characters teeter between self-assurance and self doubt. They are bold yet delicate, silly but somber. The artist’s large-scale installation, Hunting for Meaning, presents a stop-motionesque illustrated story. While a large section of the saga is visible to the viewer, significant fragments of the whole are kept private within the paper roll. Throughout the duration of the exhibition, the gallery will reveal different selections of the work. “Each segment of the story evokes an air of purpose and clarity; however, in the end the moments do not add up to an organized whole,” Gibney says of her characters. The poignant, nonsensical, and humorous drawings illuminate the common doldrums in life.

Laura Sallade’s silver nitrate works on glass incorporate new materials in the artist’s process: mylar and watercolors. The glass works contain layer upon layer of color and mirrored finishes, shades of light, reflection, and opaqueness. The artist’s practice is one of both physical and mental balance. Sallade’s art combines purposeful manipulation of heat, solid glass, and liquid chemicals. Her interest in light, and its appearance and behavior, is the artist’s main source of inspiration. The work, while airy and ethereal, is the result of a constant struggle between control and submission. The artist must consciously stay involved yet detached, allowing for an organic, disparate, final conversation between the color pigments, silver nitrate, and hidden subtitles of the work. Are we seeing, or being seen? As critic John Berger wrote in Keeping a Rendezvous, “When we read a story, we become a part of it.” When we view Sallade’s work, we become a part of it. We bring our own experiences and emotions to each work, adding to it the final layer.

Alice Gibney lives and works in Berlin, Germany. This is her first exhibition with Massey Lyuben Gallery. Laura Sallade lives and works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is her third exhibition with the Gallery. Please join us on Thursday, September 15th from 6pm-8pm for the opening reception.

For press inquiries, to RSVP for the opening, and questions about work availability, please email [email protected].