Kris Scheifele • Water Drops on Burning Rocks
May 1 - May 31, 2015
Opening reception: Friday, May 1st - 7-9pm
Janet Kurnatowski is pleased to present “Water Drops on Burning Rocks,” new works by Kris Scheifele. For her 3rd solo show with the gallery, Scheifele moves from her cut acrylic paint -skins to three dimensional sculptural objects, a change influenced by the anthropomorphic abstractions of Phyllida Barlow and Judith Scott.
Through an economy of means, Scheifele offers up modest tabletop sculptures made of “sticks” and stones, eclectic embellishments, and found objects. Just as life is a dynamic creation, some surfaces shift through the use of iridescent paint and color. Raw materials are revealed suggesting an ongoing constructive process. Objects lean, teeter, and maintain a tenuous stability.
This exhibition is the result of the artist existing in a precarious state while searching for solutions and relief with humor and perseverance. As someone wise once said, “Unpredictability offers me an opportunity to be flexible, more creative. It’s a chance to make something possible out of whatever is at hand.”
Kris Scheifele received an MFA from Pratt Institute and a BFA and BA from Cornell University. She also attended Skowhegan on a full fellowship and was a Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant recipient. Her artwork has been exhibited at CUE Art Foundation, PS122 Gallery, and 92YTribeca. She has been a visiting critic at Hunter College and has given talks for Pratt Institute and Skowhegan at 92Y Tribeca. Her artwork has been featured in Artcritical, NY Arts, Hyperallergic, James Kalm Rough Cuts, The L Magazine, and WG: Williamsburg Greenpoint News & Arts.
Through an economy of means, Scheifele offers up modest tabletop sculptures made of “sticks” and stones, eclectic embellishments, and found objects. Just as life is a dynamic creation, some surfaces shift through the use of iridescent paint and color. Raw materials are revealed suggesting an ongoing constructive process. Objects lean, teeter, and maintain a tenuous stability.
This exhibition is the result of the artist existing in a precarious state while searching for solutions and relief with humor and perseverance. As someone wise once said, “Unpredictability offers me an opportunity to be flexible, more creative. It’s a chance to make something possible out of whatever is at hand.”
Kris Scheifele received an MFA from Pratt Institute and a BFA and BA from Cornell University. She also attended Skowhegan on a full fellowship and was a Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant recipient. Her artwork has been exhibited at CUE Art Foundation, PS122 Gallery, and 92YTribeca. She has been a visiting critic at Hunter College and has given talks for Pratt Institute and Skowhegan at 92Y Tribeca. Her artwork has been featured in Artcritical, NY Arts, Hyperallergic, James Kalm Rough Cuts, The L Magazine, and WG: Williamsburg Greenpoint News & Arts.