Claire Ashley: Brave New Points and Planes

Claire Ashley: Brave New Points and Planes
April 13 – May 13, 2017

BT&C Gallery announces Brave New Points and Planes a solo show of new work by Claire Ashley. The exhibition opens on Thursday, April 13th with a reception from 6-9pm and will run through May 13th, 2017. Gallery hours are Fridays 12-7pm and select Saturdays 12-4pm (during exhibitions), or, anytime, by appointment (716-604-6183).
This exhibition is a meant to be a compliment to an exhibition recently on view at the University at Buffalo’s Anderson Gallery titled Claire Ashley: Loathsome Beauty Loaded Body. That exhibition focused on Ashley’s large-scale inflatable sculpture. Brave New Points and Planes turns the focus onto Ashley’s more intimate work— mainly small cast plaster sculpture and works on paper. These sculptural explorations of color and form share aesthetic and conceptual concerns with Ashley’s more monumental inflatables, which the artist considers as a largely feminist critique of the contemporary art world. She explains, “I use humor, acidic color, obnoxious scale, and absurd pop-culture references to challenge art historical precedence and current art world power dynamics.”
Ashley’s sculpture strives to make physically tangible the expressiveness of the painted mark. She states:
I mine the language of painterly abstraction, monumental sculpture, slapstick humor, and pop art to transform mundane materials into inflatable painted sculptures and performative props . . . I create objects that engage in intellectual play, testing the boundaries and expectations of each medium, while exploring the possibilities of low-brow, mundane, unconventional materials. I am interested in how objects "look" as opposed to "how" they are created i.e. the appearance of abstract painting visualized through industrial materials and monumental sculptural form.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Claire Ashley received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, IL), and her BFA from Gray’s School of Art (Aberdeen, Scotland). Originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, Ashley is now Chicago based. Currently, she teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Department of Contemporary Practices, and the Department of Painting and Drawing. Ashley’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries and museums as well as site-specific installations, performances and collaborations. Her work has been shown at venues such as Elmhurst Art Museum (Elmhurst, IL), Illinois State University Galleries (Normal, IL), Anya Tish Gallery (Houston, TX), CAFKA Biennial of Art in Public Places (Kitchener, ON, CAN), Indiana State Museum (Indianapolis, IN), Cleve Carney Gallery, College of Du Page (Glen Ellyn, IL), Milwaukee Art Museum (Milwaukee, IL), Young World (Detroit, MI), DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum (Lincoln, MA), Helen Day Art Center, (Stowe, VT), Disjecta Contemporary Art Center (Portland, OR), Columbus College of Art and Design, (Columbus, OH), ICEBOX Crane Arts (Philadelphia, PA), Bedford Gallery, (Walnut Creek, CA), Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, (Austin, TX), Art Gallery of Mississauga, (Mississauga, ON, CAN), The Chicago Cultural Center (Chicago, IL), Bahamas Biennial (Milwaukee, WI), Art Santa Fe (Santa Fe, NM), Rockford Art Museum (Rockford, IL), Arizona State University Museum (Phoenix, AZ), and the Museum of Contemporary Art, (Chicago, IL). Additionally, her work has been exhibited in the UK: The Tetley Center for Contemporary Art, (Leeds, England), The House for an Art Lover (Glasgow, Scotland), gallerA1 (Edinburgh, Scotland), and The Highland Institute for Contemporary Art (Inverness, Scotland). Her work has been featured on blogs such as VICE, Hyperallergic, and Artforum, and in magazines such as Sculpture Magazine, Art Papers, Chicago Tribune, Time Out Chicago, Yorkshire Post, and Condé Nast Traveller (European).

ABOUT BT&C GALLERY
Established in 2013, Body of Trade and Commerce (BT&C) Gallery is a commercial art gallery that builds the career of artists based in Buffalo and beyond, and fosters a base of emerging and seasoned collectors. BT&C Gallery opened at 1250 Niagara St, Buffalo in June 2014.
BT&C is open Fridays 12-7pm and select Saturdays 12-4pm (during exhibitions), as well as anytime by appointment.
For more information, please contact Anna Kaplan, Gallery Director at (716) 604-6183 or anna@btandcgallery.com. Visit www.btandcgallery.com and follow BT&C on Instagram (@btandcgallery) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/btandcgallery).