Being
Denise Driscoll and Gin Stone
October 2–October 27, 2019
First Friday Reception: October 4, 6–8 p.m.
Closing Reception and Artist Talk: Saturday, October 26, 3–5 p.m.
Through abstract painting and figurative sculpture, Being explores the mystery of embodiment and the complexity of coexistence from individual and collective perspectives. Driscoll and Stone enter mythological and imaginary spaces to evoke interconnection between human and other-than-human beings. Stone’s “Humane Taxidermy” sculptures and Driscoll’s “Shimmer” paintings offer an experience of profound wonderment in the presence of others.
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Gin Stone’s current “Humane Taxidermy” sculptures of trophy animals and mythological chimeras blend imagination with anatomical accuracy using hand-dyed, recycled fishing line, taxidermy forms, and veterinary handbooks. She creates pelts, fur, and manes by cutting and re-piecing the line in flowing patterns and luscious shaggy textures. The delicately colored figures are enhanced with teeth, nails, and eyes hand-carved from shell, stone, wood, and metal. Blending anthropological theory, mythological narrative and social commentary, these sculptures exude a powerful presence, both familiar and other-worldly.
Gin Stone is an ardent environmentalist and mixed media artist. She is an artist member of the Cambridge Art Association, the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, and a Core Member of Fountain Street Gallery. Stone is currently represented by On Center Gallery in Provincetown and Coastal Contemporary Gallery in Newport. She has been awarded three curatorial exhibits and is an artist-teacher at the Lillian Orlowsky Museum School at PAAM mentoring fellow artists in methodology and medium exploration. In 2018, Stone was awarded a Berkshire Taconic Foundation artist's grant.
Denise Driscoll’s “Shimmer” series imbues the tangled relationships of life with playful hope. In large-scale abstract paintings, flat perforated forms are woven together and covered with thousands of tiny, iridescent dots. Each canvas is an imaginary map of exchange: between organisms, across entire species, or within an individual. With no focal point, beginning, or end–these brightly-colored visual mazes invite the viewer to dive in and wander. Shimmering with energy, Driscoll’s paintings regard the connectedness of all beings.
Denise Driscoll is an abstract painter who pursues the invisible and the unseen. She draws inspiration from magical realism, speculative fiction, and philosophy. She is a SOLO2017 winner at Bromfield Gallery, a Curatorial Opportunity Grant awardee at the New Art Center, and her work has been shown throughout New England. Driscoll earned her MFA in Visual Art at Lesley Art + Design, where she currently teaches. She maintains a studio at Norwood Space Center, lives in Framingham, and is a Core Member at Fountain Street Gallery.