FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 15, 2016
Contact: Alicia Puig, Bridgette Mayer Gallery
t: 215-413-8893
e: apuig@bmayerart.com
Bridgette Mayer Gallery presents:
“Nature Decor,” a solo exhibition by Kaoru Mansour March 2 – April 30, 2016
Opening Reception: Friday, March 4, 6 – 8 pm
PHILADELPHIA – Bridgette Mayer Gallery is pleased to announce its first solo exhibition with gallery artist Kaoru Mansour: “Nature Decor.” Mansour is a Los Angeles based painter who was born and raised in a small, mountainous village in Japan. Her childhood experiences with the lush, natural environment of her hometown serve as the foundation of her most recent body of work. She borrows familiar imagery from this environment, such as birds, fruits, flowers, and other vegetation, and collages them onto canvases to create layered mixed media paintings. The crackled surfaces of Mansour’s works, created by the layering of acrylic medium, mimic the exterior texture of the traditional Japanese pottery raku ware, acting as a further reference to her heritage. Interspersed within her palimpsests are decorative abstract marks, created with various materials such as gold-leaf, thread, painted dots and paper cutouts, which both highlight the beauty of her subject matter and balance the elegant simplicity of her often minimalist compositions. Her paintings are bright, fresh and playful, much like the flora and fauna she chooses to depict.
Mansour has exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions in Singapore, Japan, and Korea, as well as numerous shows in California. She moved to the United States in 1986 and began her studies at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles the following year. Mansour has been invited to give lectures in association with the Collage Artists of America, San Diego Mesa Collage, and the California Institute of the Arts. Her work is included in private, corporate and hospitality collections worldwide.
“Nature Decor” will be accompanied by a sculpture installation in the Project Vault Space by Stephen Antonson. The gallery is pleased to be working with Antonson again, following his participation in a collaboration with Ken Goldberg last October. Crowned the “master of plaster” by Architectural Digest, Antonson is a classically trained sculptor and painter, who taps into his broad knowledge of both disciplines to inform his work. Working out of his Brooklyn, New York atelier, he creates every piece by hand. The artist paints plaster onto his designs in layers with a brush, then meticulously sculpts and sands it repeatedly to achieve objects of surreal beauty.
Gallery hours are Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. & by appointment. For additional information please contact t: 215 413 8893 e: apuig@bmayerart.com