For Frieze New York 2022, Rachel Uffner Gallery is excited to present new sculptures by Bianca Beck and paintings by Anne Buckwalter.
Bianca Beck brings expressionistic painting to biomorphic papier-mâché forms. Using the human figure as a point of departure, Beck creates exuberant sculptures which shape-shift and evolve depending on the viewer’s perspective. Using their own symbolic language of color and gesture, Beck challenges binary constructs and socially prescribed boundaries.
These new sculptures evolved from Beck’s Body Double series which debuted at Rachel Uffner Gallery in 2018. A departure from the larger-than-life forms which considered partnership and the collective, this new series focuses on the figure in repose as a further exploration of the multiplicities and abstractions that exist within the individual. These small-to-medium scale sculptures stem from Beck’s own investigation of their gender fluidity and queerness. Balancing control and freedom, each work reflects on the perseverance of one’s own identity in the face of external perception, while also celebrating the joys of self-realization and embodiment.
Visually distinguished by their flattened depictions of orderly domestic interiors and arrangements of various personal objects, Anne Buckwalter’s paintings enable for the coexistence of wholesomeness and innocence alongside eroticism, desire, and sexual expression. Packed with wood furniture, quilts, and quint decor, Buckwalter draws upon the enduring influence of Pennsylvania Dutch folk art, a holdover from her childhood in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Her compositions appear conventional, however, Buckwalter incorporates objects of sexual curiosities such as BDSM props, and items associated with personal health, hygiene, or fertility, such as condoms, medication bottles, and pregnancy tests. Instead of sensationalizing the presence of these objects, Buckwalter incorporates them as plain components of everyday life.
In the paintings on view at Frieze, Buckwalter further complicates her interiors by including new spaces like kitchens and bathrooms, and elements such as mirrors, windows, and doorways. For example, in Saturday Morning, Buckwalter depicts a large kitchen with an arched doorway towards the back. Buckwalter reveals a glimpse into the adjacent living room, where a pornographic video plays on TV. Here, Buckwalter addresses human needs and ideas of nourishment and satiety. By expanding the pictorial space throughout this series, Buckwalter offers the viewer additional narrative context, while also retaining an ambiguity that embraces paradox.
Anne Buckwalter (b. 1987, Lancaster, PA) received her BFA from Tyler School of Art, and her MFA from Maine College of Art. Recent solo exhibitions include Rachel Uffner Gallery, NY; Pentimenti Gallery, PA; and Freedman Gallery at Albright College, PA. Recent group exhibitions include Monya Rowe Gallery, NY; New Discretions, NY; and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, ME. Buckwalter received a Joan Mitchell Foundation Emerging Artist Grant in 2016 and a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 2021. She has been an artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity; Hewnoaks Artist Colony; Galveston Artist Residency; and the Vermont Studio Center. In summer of 2022, Buckwalter will be an artist-in-resident at MassMoCA, MA. Forthcoming exhibitions include Friends Indeed Gallery, SF; Andrea Festa Fine Art, Rome, Italy; and Monya Rowe Gallery, NY. Buckwalter lives and works in Philadelphia, PA.
Bianca Beck (b. 1979, Columbus, OH) earned a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA and an MFA from Yale University, New Haven, CT. The artist has participated in exhibitions at Beeler Gallery at Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, OH; the Contemporary Art at MECA, Porland, ME; Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, OH; Opelvillen Rüsselsheim, Rüsselsheim, Germany; V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark; the FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY; White Columns, New York, NY; and Cheim & Read, New York, NY; among others. Beck currently has work on view at Art Omi Sculpture Park, Ghent, NY; and DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA. They are a recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including the Helen Winternitz Award for Excellence in Painting at Yale University, New Haven, CT; The Ox-Bow School of Art Fellowship Program, Saugatuck, MI; and Artist-in-Residence at Complimenta, Ithaca, NY. Beck’s work is in the permanent collection of the Dallas Art Museum, Dallas, TX, and the Rachofsky Collection, Dallas, TX. Beck currently lives and works in Portland, ME.
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Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For Frieze New York 2022, Rachel Uffner Gallery is excited to present new sculptures by Bianca Beck and paintings by Anne Buckwalter.
Bianca Beck brings expressionistic painting to biomorphic papier-mâché forms. Using the human figure as a point of departure, Beck creates exuberant sculptures which shape-shift and evolve depending on the viewer’s perspective. Using their own symbolic language of color and gesture, Beck challenges binary constructs and socially prescribed boundaries.
These new sculptures evolved from Beck’s Body Double series which debuted at Rachel Uffner Gallery in 2018. A departure from the larger-than-life forms which considered partnership and the collective, this new series focuses on the figure in repose as a further exploration of the multiplicities and abstractions that exist within the individual. These small-to-medium scale sculptures stem from Beck’s own investigation of their gender fluidity and queerness. Balancing control and freedom, each work reflects on the perseverance of one’s own identity in the face of external perception, while also celebrating the joys of self-realization and embodiment.
Visually distinguished by their flattened depictions of orderly domestic interiors and arrangements of various personal objects, Anne Buckwalter’s paintings enable for the coexistence of wholesomeness and innocence alongside eroticism, desire, and sexual expression. Packed with wood furniture, quilts, and quint decor, Buckwalter draws upon the enduring influence of Pennsylvania Dutch folk art, a holdover from her childhood in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Her compositions appear conventional, however, Buckwalter incorporates objects of sexual curiosities such as BDSM props, and items associated with personal health, hygiene, or fertility, such as condoms, medication bottles, and pregnancy tests. Instead of sensationalizing the presence of these objects, Buckwalter incorporates them as plain components of everyday life.
In the paintings on view at Frieze, Buckwalter further complicates her interiors by including new spaces like kitchens and bathrooms, and elements such as mirrors, windows, and doorways. For example, in Saturday Morning, Buckwalter depicts a large kitchen with an arched doorway towards the back. Buckwalter reveals a glimpse into the adjacent living room, where a pornographic video plays on TV. Here, Buckwalter addresses human needs and ideas of nourishment and satiety. By expanding the pictorial space throughout this series, Buckwalter offers the viewer additional narrative context, while also retaining an ambiguity that embraces paradox.
Anne Buckwalter (b. 1987, Lancaster, PA) received her BFA from Tyler School of Art, and her MFA from Maine College of Art. Recent solo exhibitions include Rachel Uffner Gallery, NY; Pentimenti Gallery, PA; and Freedman Gallery at Albright College, PA. Recent group exhibitions include Monya Rowe Gallery, NY; New Discretions, NY; and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, ME. Buckwalter received a Joan Mitchell Foundation Emerging Artist Grant in 2016 and a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 2021. She has been an artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity; Hewnoaks Artist Colony; Galveston Artist Residency; and the Vermont Studio Center. In summer of 2022, Buckwalter will be an artist-in-resident at MassMoCA, MA. Forthcoming exhibitions include Friends Indeed Gallery, SF; Andrea Festa Fine Art, Rome, Italy; and Monya Rowe Gallery, NY. Buckwalter lives and works in Philadelphia, PA.
Bianca Beck (b. 1979, Columbus, OH) earned a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA and an MFA from Yale University, New Haven, CT. The artist has participated in exhibitions at Beeler Gallery at Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, OH; the Contemporary Art at MECA, Porland, ME; Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, OH; Opelvillen Rüsselsheim, Rüsselsheim, Germany; V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark; the FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY; White Columns, New York, NY; and Cheim & Read, New York, NY; among others. Beck currently has work on view at Art Omi Sculpture Park, Ghent, NY; and DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA. They are a recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including the Helen Winternitz Award for Excellence in Painting at Yale University, New Haven, CT; The Ox-Bow School of Art Fellowship Program, Saugatuck, MI; and Artist-in-Residence at Complimenta, Ithaca, NY. Beck’s work is in the permanent collection of the Dallas Art Museum, Dallas, TX, and the Rachofsky Collection, Dallas, TX. Beck currently lives and works in Portland, ME.
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