KC STUDIO Exhibition Reveiw

 KC STUDIO
“Mary Ann Strandell: The Conversation,” Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art

• by Elisabeth Kirsch
• July 6, 2020
• Visual , Visual Art Reviews

Mary Ann Strandell has always been a time traveler, with specific interests in architecture, nature, animals and the decorative arts. All these subjects are part of “Conversation,” and they all chatter together, regardless of their respective timelines, and even if their dialogues seem hermetic.
Verdant paintings of birds, tulips, magnolia trees, and parks — all of them bursting with life— are situated next to historic edifices such as the Western Auto and Power and Light buildings in Kansas City. There are also mid-century modern living rooms (conversation pits) filled with decorative objects such as sputnik lamps, floating 18th-century chinoiserie and strange animals. Strandell has long used lenticulars in her artwork, which add a three-dimensional floating quality to some of her images. Ghostly blueprints also hover over some architectural pieces.
Strandell’s migrations take the form of memory journeys and are thought forms as much as actual reproductions of places and things. Some bring pleasure, some are strange, and others make us wonder what came before and what will follow. There’s really no such thing as time or space in Strandell’s art; she creates the constancy of nature and beauty while also showing the beginning of everything human-made while hinting at its ultimate demise.

Hung Liu: Seedlings,” “Anne Austin Pearce: Path” and “Mary Ann Strandell: The Conversation” continue at Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, 2004 Baltimore Ave., through Aug. 22. Call to make an appointment, 816.221.2626. For more information, www.sherryleedy.com.

SEE THE FULL REVIEW:  Three Solo Shows

RIPPLE EFFECT

Exhibition: Ripple Effect

ArtPort Kingston, Kingston NY
The Cornell Steam Boat Building
Opens June 27, 2020 

Ripple Effect is a group exhibition curated and organized by Laurie De Chiara,
director of ArtPort Kingston.  The exhibition is part of an evolving series
of topical conversations and installations within the cultural landscape of today's Covid world.
"The Ripple Effect, passing messages and information along for more people to experience. In our current times of unknown and unrest, perhaps the power of art can provide alternative perspectives.  Our world has changed, thus we have created an exhibition of dialogues influx.  Changes in the exhibition will occur regularly with new artists added and different configurations of installations.  We can not be stagnant, shifts and transitions keep us from becoming complacent. Every time you return something might have changed to give a different perspective." - Laurie DeChiara

Exhibition artists: Mary Ann Strandall, Susan Jennings, Will van Roden, Dasha Bazanova, Undine Brod, Gabe Brown, Melissa Dadourian, Jeila Gueramian, Miwa Koizumi, Ann Mailey,  Ruby Palmer, Traci Talassco, Clare Torina, Christine Stiver, Julie Hedrick, Samantha Strand, Roberta Ziemba

Mary Ann Strandell, Transit Portal Installation (partial view), ArtPort Kingston

Mary Ann Strandell's installation, "Transit Portal" is part of the Ripple Effect Exhibition.  'Transit Portal" consists of a hand-painted, forty foot sumi-brush wash drawing with twelve 3d lenticular print media, mounted throughout the large ink drawing. Strandell brings together three historical spaces: the baroque, modernism, and post-modernism. Strandell considers the multiple viewing experience to that of ones daily experience on-line;  the many search windows we navigate on our personal computers. The base drawing portrays an echo of a specific historic room designed as a formal gathering place for social connecting, and story telling- the Salon's of Europe passed.
The ink drawing of The Fragaonard Room from the Frick Museum is based on a 1940's photograph. Intrigued by the lack of internet documentation of this Period Room, as the on-line access is only a virtual tour, Strandell activates issues of time, the hand drawn, and the mediated experience of now.
The array of lenticular media vary in their picto-graphic and algorithmic references.  The three dominant lenticular works have a central image of the 1970's "conversation-pit", the retro sunken couch; hand-painted in oil, and transferred to lenticular. Within the lenticular media float imagery from pop culture including kitsch elements, design decor, auction-house items, spudnik lamps, California pools, and more. Other lenticular works depict moving images of birds, ancient vases, and the odd references to porcelain objects, along with the ghosts of Hokusai woodcuts. "Transit Portal" installation is a mediated chamber of time-travel.

ArtPort Kingston
108 E. Strand Street
Kingston, NY 12401
917-796-5390
The Cornell Steam Boat Building 
info@dechiaraprojects
www.dechiaraprojects.com
ArtPort Kingston, NY
Hours: Sat/Sun 12-5 pm

Reschdeuled Exhibition

"The Conversation"
Mary Ann Strandell
June 4 - August 22, 2020

Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art
2004 Baltimore Avenue
Kansas City, MO  64108

Sherry Leedy
Director  _sherryleedy@sherryleedy.com  

LINK to Catalogue:
Exhibition Catalogue: Mary Ann Strandell; The Conversation

 
My SLCA exhibition The Conversation, was to open April 2nd. It was postponed due to the global pandemic. During quarantine I addressed new works and revised others. The two 2019 Lenticular prints are based on the 'conversation pit' sofa's, the sunken couch styles from the late 60’s and early 70’s. The funky retro nature of this style, along with “PIT" drove me to consider the semiotics of such. I think, figuratively, of the pit we fall into as we converse in our society today; in lieu of rampant fake news and a social media driven by sensation and ego. The additional 3d Lenticular works are all based on architecture from NYC and KC. Each contain a veneer of layered ink drawings that represent a different version of their full final presence as architecture. They began as oil paintings, and ink drawings, then transversed into collage, then engineered into the quotidian space of lenticular.

The oil paintings are of structures, landscape and various references to nature. Since I work consistently between painting and printmaking, and between analogue and digital I am ultimately interested in the concept of the "mediated image". Influenced by The Picture Generation, Rauschenberg and Richter, I am concerned with topics of appropriation, authenticity, and the surge of cultural memes, I find there is a great territory of instability and power in images and their possible meanings. All the oil paintings in The Conversation exhibition are based on photos. Some came from the internet, or field guide studies, and most of them I took with the intention of translating them in to painting.
I hope you all get a chance to see the show, virtually or in real time. Sherry Leedy and Allison King are at the gallery in the Crossroads from Tuesday to Saturday 11:00 and to 5:00pm. Just swing by, knock on the door. Of course wear a mask and take your time…. There are two other
terrific solo shows at SLCA. @hungliuartist Hung Liu's handworked prints of oil paintings, and @anneautinpearce Anne Austin Pearce’s complex collage's of painted organic abstractions. Be safe out there...!

Artist Mary Ann Strandell is known for her lush paintings and innovative lenticulars. Her ability to synthesize the past with the future and create a new dialogue between art history, technology, science, nature and architecture, makes her artwork unique, original and unforgettable. Strandell’s exhibition, The Conversation, explores her evolving narratives, combining her interests in architecture, nature and chinoiserie. Often the mix of visual languages in Strandell’s work weaves the energy of nature together with that of the city, each playing off the other. In addition, there are singular works in painting, such as a close-up of a magnolia blossom or tulip, framed tightly, as an exuberant expression of spring. The paintings often re-appear in Strandell’s lenticular’s as disassembled and layered components that support, enrich and continue The Conversation.

LINK to Catalogue:
Exhibition Catalogue: Mary Ann Strandell; The Conversation 

Sherry Leedy
Director
sherryleedy@sherryleedy.com                            

 Allison King
Assistant Director
allisonking@sherryleedy.com  

 Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art
2004 Baltimore Avenue
Kansas City, Missouri 64108
phone: 816-221-2626

Hours: 11am – 5 pm Tuesday – Saturday by appointment.

The Conversation

"The Conversation", Solo Exhibition

Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art

2004 Kansas City, MO 64108

April 2-May 22, 2020 _ Postponed
RESCHEDULED : June 4th - August 22nd.

Reception is cancelled due to CoVid.

The Conversation exhibition activates a network of images and meanings consistent with the focus of Mary Ann Strandell’s work. The show explores Strandell’s evolving relationship between architecture, nature, and chinoiserie, expressed via ink drawings within lenticular prints and paintings. She uses these subjects along with diverse artistic production to examine a sense of time and place through location and history. Singular themed oil paintings of nature and architecture are presented along with the layered narratives of lenticular  media. The Conversation demonstrates a prismatic relationship between these different subjects and medias.

The variety of Strandell’s work is captivating, woven through her polyglot style. While she continues the paintings of songbirds that many will find familiar, she adds magnolia blossom and tulip paintings  that are framed very tightly as an exuberant expression of spring. These paintings are nature asserting itself in the city.  Also included is an architectural structure rising up in the city as the expression of human nature, or the extension of humans in nature. It is in this painting that Strandell struggles with the boundaries of nature and culture. These  architecture-related works in both paintings and lenticular prints work off each other. Both media are pictorial and algorithmic: the paintings are often disassembled and recapitulated into the lenticular media. This is part of The Conversation.

For example, two of the architectural lenticular works are of historic Kansas City buildings: Western Auto and Power and Light. Both of these works began as oil on canvas paintings. From these oils, Strandell interweaves the initial drawing of the subject, along with ink studies of the structure building from when it was under construction. It’s as if the buildings are dreaming their original skeleton, or that the skeleton is imaging its finished state. Each work contains an 18th century porcelain object that acts as a post script for the markings of trade and commerce.

The title of the show comes from her works that portray the 1970’s sunken couch called a conversation pit. This starts the collection of objects that make appearances throughout the works. The layered floating references include icons from other eras: a sputnik lamp, 15th century vase, cocktails, kitsch porcelain and modernist light fixtures. Often the lenticulars begin as singular painting, a stylized couch here, a conversation pit there, but recede  into the backdrop while other collaged images float above. 


 

Mary Ann Strandell, "Conversation Pit II", Lenticular Media, 2019

Mary Ann Strandell, West O, 42x32, Lenticular 2020

Mary Ann Strandell, Power n Light, 42x32, Lenticular, 2020 

Mary Ann Strandell, "Conversation Pit I", Lenticular Media, 2019

Strandell, "Avenue Ninth n Tenth_Towers", 42x64", 3d lenticular, 2016

2020

Hello 2020!

Some Upcoming Exhibitions:

. The Arc Line, Solo Salon Exhibition at Juliette Yuan&Associates, NYC (March+April) 
. The Conversation, Solo Exhibition,Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, KC, MO (April+May)                                 . Ripple Effect, Artport Kingston, Kingston, NY Curated by Laurie DeChiara
. Altered Presence, . Visiting Artist, William Paterson University Graduate Fine Art
. Bailey House Exhibition Benefit, NYC (March 6) 
. Visiting Artist, Kansas City Art Institute, Dept. of Painting
. LREI Exhibition and Benefit in NYC (April 22)  
. ENVISION!, The Nerman Museum of Art, Overland Park, KS (May-August)
. Artist in Residency at P98a, Berlin, Germany  TBA
. Prism Forest, The Crossroads Hotel: Summer Solo n (July,  August, September), KC, MO

"The Arc Line" Solo at 
Juliette Yuan&Associates (UES)
and SUITE 303 Projects (Chelsea)
Opening Reception postponed, due to CoVid19.
Stay Tuned...
 

Mary Ann Strandell, 60x48",oil on canvas, 2019

"The Arc Line", exhibition brings together paintings and 3D lenticular media that culls into motion the paradoxical nature of meaning and translation. Strandell's paintings denote certain architectural wonders, sourced from early modernism design and museums, along with notable NYC architecture, including the three-story @Apple staircase in Chelsea, and Hudson Yard construction sites. The Arc Line exhibition also takes on new work from her series, The Conversation, a redux of the 1970’s interiors.  These are 3D lenticular works that interweaves vignettes of referential objects denoting time (spudnik lantern, cocktail hour, museum porcelains, and kitsch objects) with various iconic view of the designed sunken couches. The Arc Line also showcases 3d lenticular works from "The Cherry Stairs” series, a confluence of static painted modernist interiors with vignettes of nature and folly, redrawn from European Chinoserie objects. Exhibition is a duo-platform between the two spaces, Juliette Yuan&Associates, on the Upper East Side, and Suite 303 Projects in Chelsea’s art district.



"The Conversation"
Solo exhibition (stay tuned)
Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art
2004 Kansas City, MO 64108
April 2-May 22, 2020
 

Mary Ann Strandell, "Conversation Pit II", Lenticular Media, 2019

December Exhibitions 2019

Ornament: Ho-Hum All Ye Faithful 3

December 12 - January 25, 2020

Opening Reception: December 12, 6-8pm

Bravin Lee Programs Gallery

526 West 26th Street, Suite 211

NY, NY 10001

Mary Ann Strandell,
Construction and Ornament, 3D

Transitions
December 14 - January 25, 2020

April Price Projects Gallery

201 3rd Street, Suite G

Albuquerque, NM 87106

Mary Ann Strandell, Conversation Pit II

Snowflake Waltz
November 23 - December 29, 2019
De Chiara NY/Berlin

The Cornell Steamboat Building

108-110 East Strand Street 

Kingston, NY 12401 

LINK: Snowflake Waltz Exhibition Project

Mary Ann Strandell, Starlight Lenticular

Twentieth Annual 5 by 7 Show
December 7 - January 5, 2020
Kleinert/James Center for the Arts
34 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY 12498

Mary Ann Strandell, Bird Series, 3D Lenticular

Solo Exhibition / Closing Reception

December 6, 2019

RIFT VALLEY

April Price Projects Gallery

201 3rd Street, Suite G

Albuquerque, NM 87106
October 18 - December 6, 2019

Mary Ann Strandell, Apple Stairs 4th, oil

New Arrivals

Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art

First Friday Reception_Dec, 6th

2004 Baltimore Ave.

Kansas City, MO 64102

Mary Ann Strandell_Conversation Pit I, 3D

Arts Thrive : The Miniature Show

October 19 - December 7, 2019

Closing reception: Sunday, December 7

The Albuquerque Museum 

2000 Mountain Road NW

Albuquerque, NM  87104

Mary Ann Strandell, "Floating World
Architecture UNESCO", Lenticular 

Mimosa's and More: Brunch + Artist Talk

MIMOSA'S AND MORE~April Price Project Gallery
Join us in the gallery!
Saturday: November 9th, 11:00am-1:30pm
Brunch will start at 11:00am before the artist talk at 12:30.
Mary Ann Strandell and Ann Dunbar will both be giving talks
about their current exhibitions in the gallery. We encourage guests
to bring their own questions and to have an open dialogue with the artists.

Mary Ann Strandell, "Transit Trail Bird,Serape"

Rift Valley, Mary Ann Strandell:
Exhibiting October 14-December 6, 2019 in the Main Gallery
Through the Lives, Ann Dunbar:
Exhibiting October 14-December 6, 2019 in the Design Studio Gallery

Gallery Hours:
Sunday-Monday: By Appointment
Tuesday-Friday: 11-5pm
Saturday: 12-5pm

Contact: Brianne @ 505.850.2307  April @ 505.573.0895
Parking Validation for the Hyatt Hotel Garage, entrance off 3rd and Copper
Address: 201 3rd Street NW, Suite G, Abq. NM 81702

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April Price Projects Gallery / Design Studio NM LLC
201 3rd St NW Ste G
Albuquerque, NM 87102-3362