NOVEMBER 4 – DECEMBER 17, 2011
Artist Reception: Friday, NOVEMBER 4, 5 – 7 PM
Pentimenti Gallery is pleased to present two solo exhibitions: Ketabeh Eghshe (trans. Book of Love), a solo exhibition of works on paper by Hadieh Shafie, and Offshoot, a solo show of works on paper by Ilene Shunshine.
HADIEH SHAFIE
Ketabeh Eghshe (trans. Book of Love)
Works on paper
HADIEH SHAFIE’s work is highly influenced by her ponderings on process, repetition and time. Shafie immigrated to the United States from Iran in 1983, and her drawings, paintings, and works with paper scrolls are inspired greatly by Islamic influences. Working with paper and ink she creates whimsical images that reflect a rich cultural past. The Farsi word “eshghe” (translation “love”) is a recurring theme in her work, as are the circular marks used in her paintings and scroll works. The marks reflect the whirling and movement performed in dancing. Shafie chooses to ignore aspects of classical forms of calligraphy when repeating the word “eshghe” in order to ground her work in the expressive beauty and individual power of the untrained hand. Shafie rises against language markers through her work, removing the communicative aspect of the word and giving it new life as a purely visual image.
Shafie Hadieh graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park, MD with a BFA in Painting. She earned her MFA in Painting from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY as well as UMBC, MFA Imaging and Digital Art, MD. She is the recipient of several awards and honors, two of which are V&A Museum, London, UK 2011 and Franz and Virginia Bader Fund, Washington D.C. 2010. She has recently sold work at Sotheby’s, London annual modern and contemporary Arab and Iranian art sale. She has exhibited extensively; Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK; Pulse Art Fair, New York, NY and Washington Project for the Arts, Washington D.C. Upcoming exhibits for 2012 Casa Arabe, Madrid, Spain; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA; and Institute du Monde Arabe, Paris, France. Many private collectors in Europe, Middle East, and North America purchased her work, as well as public collectors encompassing such as Bank of America, Corporation Collection, North Carolina; Art in Embassies, Public Collection, Dubai, UAE; and Salsali Collection. Hadieh has been noted in such publications as, The Washington Post, The Art Economist, and The Huffington Post.
ILENE SUNSHINE
Offshoot
Works on paper
ILENE SHUNSHINE’s productions delight in the manipulation of cast-off materials. The fifteen works that make up Offshoot consist of drawings constructed by hand-stitching pressed leaves and snippets of plastic bags to paper. The resulting motifs are an amalgam of these contrasting materials. Sunshine takes her cues from the leaf’s inherent structure, highlighting its veins and contours with color. Transformed from botanical specimen into pure line and shape, the leaf merges with the bag’s graphic design in a seamless union. Though the manipulation of nature is implied, Sunshine’s work is not polemical. These drawings demonstrate the artist’s interest in shape, line, and form; they radiate a collagist’s affection for appropriation and the manipulation of scavenged materials, while celebrating the sheer beauty and diversity found in nature’s design. Offshoot is an exhibition of hybrids: a cross between an artist’s drawings and a botanist’s herbaria, a mash-up of materials, a blend of nature and culture.
Ilene Sunshine graduated from Boston University’s School of Fine Arts, BFA Sculpture, with honors. She is a recipient of several awards and fellowships, including the Dieu Donné Workspace Program and the New York Foundation for the Arts, NYFA Fellowship, 2011. She has been highlighted in The New York Times as well as The Boston Globe. Sunshine has also exhibited extensively throughout the United States, at such venues as Kentler International Drawing Space, Red Hook (Brooklyn), NY; Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY; and The Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC. Her work has been purchased by many private collectors as well as by public collections including the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK; Meditech, Atlanta, GA and Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA.
The exhibitions open on November 4. The artist reception is Friday, November 4 from 5 to 7 pm. “Ketabeh Eghshe” & “Offshoot” close on Saturday, December 17, 2011.
GALLERY HOURS: Tuesday by appoint., Wednesday – Friday: 11 AM – 5 PM, Saturday: noon to 5 PM
Pentimenti Gallery presents contemporary art by emerging and mid-career artists in a variety of media. For more information, please contact the gallery at +1 (215) 625-9990, mail@pentimenti.com or visit www.pentimenti.com
