Claire Sherman, Slow Pan: Kavi Gupta | 835 W. Washington Blvd. Chicago, IL, 60607

2 February - 17 March 2007
Overview

Kavi Gupta Gallery is pleased to present the first US solo show of young Chicago-based painter Claire Sherman in an ambitious debut featuring eight large canvases as well as a new series of works on paper. This new work continues her aggressive painterly approach to image-making utilizing the subject of the landscape as a starting point to reveal a dialogue that spans romanticism, abstraction, existentialism and the sublime.

Claire Sherman’s latest body of work is titled “Slow Pan” referring to the lingering deliberate movement of a camera over its subject which in Sherman’s case encompasses multiple varying scenes from the landscape. The images that Claire uses range from expansive arctic vistas to close-ups of the forest floor’s natural refuse of twigs, dirt and rocks. These abstract moments of chaos produce complex patterns of undulating shapes, line and light which motivate Sherman to investigate both the mundane moments within this terrain as well as the tumultuous water of rapids, or the massive foreboding heights of a rocky cliff. These images emphasize her need to explore places she has never been, however commonplace or exotic.

On the surface of Sherman’s paintings forceful bold brushstrokes and spontaneous use of color in addition to their large scale produce a cinematic, stage-set quality. Lighting is often dramatic, colors are over-saturated, and shapes are simplified resulting in a seductive, lush and complex surrounding. The perspective is primarily one of being below or above the landscape where the viewer can become overwhelmed and pulled into the scene. The edited view of the environment as well as the lack of action, protagonist or obvious narrative creates a suspense that can be likened to horror movies - a space that is at once welcoming and beautiful but potentially dangerous and menacing.

Claire Sherman (b. 1981, Ohio) lives and works in Chicago. Sherman recently had a solo show at Houldsworth Gallery in London. Her work has exhibited widely with Kavi Gupta Gallery and has been included in group exhibitions at the Beverly Art Center and at Bodybuilder and Sportsman Gallery in Chicago. Her work is included in numerous important collections such as the UBS Bank Art Collection. Sherman is Assistant Professor of Art at Knox College, Illinois.

Works
Installation Views