Detailed Information Save the Date Saturday, May 26

The exhibition “Detailed Information” showcases a group of artists whose work is minutely crafted to exacting detail, rich with narrative content. The works in this show invite multiple viewings in order to capture important visual components that serve to decode the artist’s perspective. Implicit to this group of artist is their mastery of techniques-whether it is old master, or the application of new technologies. Each artist uses their significant knowledge to impart a comprehensive visual story.

Detailed Information opens Saturday, May 26 from 6—8PM and features: John Byrd, Kate MacDowell, Marc Burckhardt, Wookjae Maeng, Christopher Torrez and Carrie Anne Baade. Save the date and we will see you soon.

Kate MacDowell’s New Works

Kate MacDowell’s hand-built porcelain sculptures respond to environmental threats and their consequences, revealing the rifts and frictions between man and nature. Kate lives and works in Portland, Oregon, where she prolifically creates work in response to environmental threats including: air pollution, global warming, clear-cutting and the misuse of pesticides and the effects on the health of the environment. (Including all of us)!

Kate is featured in the upcoming group exhibition titled, “Detailed Information,” opening Saturday, May 26 at 6—8PM and continuing through July 7, 2012. Kate MacDowell has created a new series of works, “Stolen 1 and Stolen 2,” hand built porcelain, cone 6 glaze, measuring aproximately 7x7x12.5 inches and 11x7x9.5 inches.

You can view more of Kate MacDowell’s work here. Please contact the gallery for additional information.

Kate MacDowell’s New Work

New work has recently been posted and available by sculptor Kate MacDowell. Kate MacDowell’s work celebrates the narrative tradition, often evoking humankind’s relations with nature. (Above, Quiet as a Mouse).

We do not want merely to see beauty…..We want something else which can hardly be put into words–to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it. – C.S. Lewis. (Above, Stolen 1 & Stolen 2).

Kate MacDowell writes, “In my work this Romantic ideal of our relationship to the natural world conflicts with the reality of our current impact on the environment.  My pieces are in part responses to environmental threats including air pollution, global warming, clear-cutting, and pesticide misuse; and their consequences to our health and the environment including rapidly diminishing plant and animal species.  They also borrow from myth, art history, figures of speech and other cultural touchstones.  In some pieces aspects of the human figure stand-in for us and act out sometimes harrowing, sometimes humorous transformations which illustrate our current relationship with the natural world. In others, animals take on anthropomorphic qualities when they are given safety equipment to attempt to protect them from man-made environmental threats. In each case the union between man and nature is shown to be one of friction and discomfort with the implication that we too are vulnerable to being victimized by our destructive practices.” (Above, Stolen 1, detail).

“I hand sculpt each piece out of porcelain, often building a solid form and then hollowing it out. Smaller forms are built petal by petal, branch by branch and allow me the chance to get immersed in close study of the structure of a blossom or a bee. I chose porcelain for its luminous and ghostly qualities as well as its strength and ability to show fine texture. It highlights both the impermanence and fragility of natural forms in a dying ecosystem, while paradoxically, being a material that can last for thousands of years and is historically associated with high status and value.    I see each piece as a captured and preserved specimen, a painstaking record of endangered natural forms and a commentary on our own culpability.”  (Above, Quiet as a Mouse, unique and available per mouse).

Kate MacDowell Assisted Living

Kate MacDowell will be featured in the upcoming issue of Art in America featuring two recent works, “Assisted Living” and “Serpentine.” Kate’s latest, “Assisted Living” is a hand built porcelain piece featuring cone 6 glaze and recently completed this month. Please contact the gallery for additional information or visit Kate MacDowell’s portfolio.

SCOPE Recap and Kind Thanks

Booth C21 at SCOPE was well received by private collectors, museum representatives and art enthusiasts. Our favorite part was featuring represented artists in the booth—James Kennedy, Gregory Green, Sunkoo Yuh and Sean Noyce were all on hand to share stories and points of inspiration about their work. We are excited to share more, and there are still a few choice works available by all of the featured artists including: Bart Johnson, the de la Torre Brothers, Wookjae Maeng and Kate MacDowell. (Mindy Solomon Gallery was also showcased in Creative Loafing).

Thank you so much for your support during Art Basel Miami and SCOPE. We enjoyed seeing you all in person and appreciate the time you took to say hello to the artists. SCOPE was an amazing success and we look forward to sharing a dynamic showcase with you in 2012.

Art Basel Miami was a great way to get the holidays started. Please contact us for additional information about available work, SCOPE and our current exhibition at the gallery, “Expressions in Form” featuring the sculptural works of Josh DeWeese. Please stop by today.

SCOPE Pavillion Booth No. C21 11/29—12/4

The Mindy Solomon Gallery is an international showcase for contemporary art with an eye for the unique with an emphasis on pottery, ceramics, photography and abstract painting. This week we head to Miami to participate in the SCOPE Pavillion, part of the week long Art Basel fair November 29 through December 4, 2011.

We will be presenting modern contemporary, sculptural forms and outsider art works by the imaginative artistry of Gregory Green, Bart Johnson, James Kennedy, Kate MacDowell, Wookjae Maeng, Sean Noyce, Einar & Jamex de la Torre, Sunkoo Yuh and Wanxin Zhang. Please visit us at Booth No. C21 as we occupy an impressive booth presenting 50 high-quality art pieces. For more information, please read more here.

Happy Thanksgiving Day : SCOPE Miami

Happy Thanksgiving Day, enjoy with family and friends. Thank you for all of your support at this year’s SOFA Chicago. Our last fair of the year takes place at SCOPE Art Show during Miami Art Basel week November 29 through December 4. We will be located at Booth C21. Check here for interviews featuring Einar and Jamex de la Torre, James Kennedy, Kate MacDowell and overview about all of the featured artists exhibiting at this year’s SCOPE Art Show Booth No. C21.

Kate MacDowell featured at SCOPE

Fine artist Kate MacDowell responds to the impact of contemporary society on the environment. Kate will be presenting two new pieces at SCOPE made of hand built porcelain and cone 6 glaze titled—Serpentine (featured above) and Assisted Living (please see Kate’s interview here).

SCOPE Art Show kicks off in Miami, Florida November 29—December 4. Please visit the Mindy Solomon Gallery at Booth 21 featuring a thought provoking line up that includes:  Bart Johnson, James Kennedy, Einar and Jamex de la Torre, Sean Noyce, Sunkoo Yuh, Gregory Green, Wookjae Maeng and Kate MacDowell.

Kate MacDowell Interview

For fine artist Kate MacDowell the “real” world impact of contemporary society on the environment is the inspiration behind much of her work to date. Kate actively responds to environmental stressors—climactic change and toxic exposure—while providing nature’s creatures with anthropomorphic qualities for protection and survival from man-made threats. (Assisted Living details, above).

Kate MacDowell recently completed her new piece, “Assisted Living,” (13×11.5×7). Well-articulated piece, featuring great narrative detail. I caught up with Kate to ask her questions about Erasure and her latest porcelain piece.

mM : Please talk about the duality of human features intermingled with the bird of prey : what provoked your initial thoughts about your new piece, assisted living?

KATE : I was thinking about how the California Condor was brought back from the brink of extinction (22 birds left in the wild) by a captive breeding program in which the first egg from a pair was removed from the nest and hand raised by biologists wearing condor hand puppets.   I wanted to make a piece which emphasized the “hands on” nature of this approach, and how sometimes species preservation depends on such laborious egg by egg care-taking. (Assisted Living details, above).

mM : Please share some of your favorite inspirations?

I often start with a case study related to an environmental tragedy, but this was a case study related to the beginning of a success story, which was refreshing. (Black Bat, above).

mM : How has the Erasure feature cover been received?

KATE : Well, they are also featuring different works of mine on 2 (or possibly 3) single CD covers designed by Tom Hingston.  You can see an interview with the Art Director on the Erasure site here. (see Oct. 21st)

KATE : ” Where did the idea for the ‘Tomorrow’s World’ cover come from?

Paul A. Taylor – ….. We discussed ideas such as having realism within the art and second look peculiarities that brought a depth of beauty with a touch of unease about it. Andy also kept coming back to having a heart involved somehow, but in a more realistic way than we have had before. This is what I took to Tom and I will now hand over to Tom for him to say how he put together the next set of ideas for us to go through.

Tom Hingston - For us it was about taking really strong iconography (in this case the heart) and then twisting or perverting it in some way. For a while now, I’ve been a fan of Kate McDowell’s beautiful, twisted sculptures – and this seemed like a perfect opportunity to collaborate. So we created this imaginary heart that revealed another world inside, but a world that suggested something fantastic or magical, using butterflies, birds and flowers. I like the idea that by creating a layered image the viewer would continue to explore or discover hidden elements within the composition. Ultimately it was about making something that felt iconic but multi-dimensional at the same time. (Video here).

You can also see more of Kate MacDowell’s work here and “Assisted Living” here. Kate MacDowell Erasure cover announcement. Thank you to all of the artists.  Interview by Mark Murphy.

Kate MacDowell Assisted Living

Fine artist Kate MacDowell articulates the “real” world impact of contemporary society on the environment. Kate actively responds to environmental stressors—climactic change and toxic exposure—while providing nature’s creatures with anthropomorphic qualities for protection and survival from man-made threats.

Kate MacDowell has recently completed a new porcelain, pedestal piece entitled, “Assisted Living,” 13×11.5×7,” hand built porcelain and cone 5 glaze, November 2011.

We are excited about “Assisted Living” by Kate MacDowell and happy to answer any questions you may have by contacting the gallery.