A Clearing: New Work by Sharon Brant and Debra Ramsay
May 11 – May 26, 2019
Opening: Saturday, May 11, 3 - 5 pm
Key Projects is pleased to present A Clearing: New Work by Sharon Brant and Debra Ramsay, on view from May 11 through May 26, 2019. Opening reception is on Saturday, May 11th from 3 - 5 pm. Key Projects is open Saturdays and Sundays from 1 – 5 pm and by appointment during the run of the exhibition.
In 1973 Agnes Martin produced a body of prints titled “On A Clear Day” after 7 years of living on a remote mesa in New Mexico. These works came after a time of self-imposed isolation to find clarity. Martin said that she was interested “…in experience that is wordless and silent, and in the fact that this experience can be expressed for me in artwork which is also wordless and silent.” Sharon Brant’s and Debra Ramsay’s new paintings are visually different from each other, yet both are seeking to distill experiences of stillness and silence.
Sharon Brant continues to explore a reductive process with minimal color. In her new work, Brant covers the full expanse of the canvas with a grid pattern which is drawn with white colored pencil. A transparent or semi-transparent colored rectilinear shape is placed on top of the grid and framed slightly below the top edge on a rectangular shaped canvas. Brant’s work elicits a steady, slow-moving and gentle viewing. Debra Ramsay’s work is measured by the intervals and cycles in the natural world. Ramsay spends long periods of time looking - following the movement and color of clouds or the water’s changing currents. Her paintings in black or white on acrylic panels are subtle, dissolving, yet rhythmic fields that reveal occasional colors underneath. Mysterious changes occur in the aspect of each painting as one moves around them.
About the artists:
Sharon Brant has exhibited her work internationally for the past five decades, including in Europe, Australasia, Mexico, and the United States. Museum exhibitions include the Whitney Museum of American Art, MoMA PS1, Rochester Museum, Everson Museum of Art, and Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, among many others. Solo exhibitions at Minus Space (2012, 2018), Elizabeth Moore Fine Art (2007, 2011, 2018), Galerie Tanja Grunert (2016) A.I.R. Gallery (1989, 1991, 1994, 1996), and OK Harris (1970, 1972), and numerous group shows. In 1968, Brant was one of eight founding members, along with Arthur Hughes, Gary Smith, and Robert Resnick, of MUSEUM, A Project of Living Artists, an artist-run exhibition and meeting space located at 729 Broadway in New York City. Brant was a member of A.I.R. Gallery from 1989-1996, the first artist-run gallery for women in the United States founded in 1972. She has been a member of American Abstract Artists since 2004. In 2012, Brant was awarded a grant from the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation. Her work has been reviewed in Artforum, ARTnews, Art International, Arts Magazine, The Brooklyn Rail, Hyperallergic, and The New York Times. Brant studied at the Kansas City Art Institute in Missouri from 1962-1965 and moved to New York City in 1966.
Debra Ramsay is an abstract artist working in the disciplines of painting, drawing and installation. She maintains a full-time studio practice in New York City. Ramsay has exhibited her work internationally for the past three decades, including in Denmark, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. Solo exhibitions in the United States include the Brattleboro Museum in Brattleboro, VT, 2017, Odetta Gallery, Brooklyn, and 57W 57th Arts, NY, 2016. She was awarded a 2018 residency at the Golden Foundation in New Berlin, NY, a 2016 residency at the Albers Foundation, a 2013 residency at the Golden Foundation in New Berlin, NY and in 2012 a fellowship at BAU Institute in Otranto, Italy. In 2017 Ramsay’s work was included in an exhibition and publication of the same name, Chromotopia: An Illustrated History of Colour. The book, by David Coles, was published by Thames and Hudson. Her work has been written about in: An Aggregate of Forces: 60 women artists, JoanMatteraArtBlog (2017), Artists on Rhythm, Titled Arch (2015), Studio Critical (2014), The Daily Beast, “Daily Pic” (2013), and A Subtle Marking of Time and Distance, Structure and Imagery (2013).