Petah Coyne: Spring Snow
Julie Saul Gallery, New York
October 27 - December 8, 2001
The Julie Saul Gallery presents its first solo exhibition of new photographic work and a sculptural installation by Petah Coyne, entitled Spring Snow. This is Coyne¹s second photographic exhibition in New York, the first was held in 1996. The installation includes fifteen prints and two hanging sculptures from 1996/97 in her characteristic medium of assembled bows, ribbons and birds melded with wax.
The photographs convey a sense of youth and energy. The swirling imagery of the black and white prints features tumbling children, gliding brides and debutantes dancing through dreamy space. The subjects relate to the female sculptural figures incorporated into Coyne¹s new sculptural work- Madonnas transformed into metaphoric nuns, birds and veiled sirens. This new sculpture is exhibited concurrently in an exhibition entitled White Rain at the new Galerie Lelong space at 528 West 26th St. from November 3 through December 8.
The title Spring Snow was inspired and derived from the Japanese writer Mishima's final series of novels which were written at a time in his life and concern matters similar to those of Coyne. The artist sees new beginnings in this series- an attempt to capture the freshness and energy of youth- as something remembered in feeling rather than narrative. She also intends for the viewer to bring their own emotional and visual memories to create their own reality in relation to the images. The installation includes prints ranging from small to monumental, creating a sense of moving in and out in the same way that Petah Coyne herself moves around while making photographs. The sculptures, one black, the other white, evoke the duality of all Petah Coyne's work, a celebration of life joined with a recognition of death and mortality. Petah Coyne sees her photographic work as both independent and linked to her sculpture activity. She has noted that in some ways they function as the drawings relating to the sculpture- both studies and summations.
Petah Coyne's work has been shown extensively in the United States and abroad, including the 2000 Biennial of the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, the Aldrich Museum, Connecticut and a photographic survey appeared at the Weatherspoon Museum at the University of North Carolina in 1997.
JULIE SAUL GALLERY
535 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011
