VICE VERSA

Sarah Alexander + Kay Hartung

November 2-26, 2023

SoWa First Friday Art Walk: Friday, November 3 | 5:00–8:00 PM
Artist Talk: Saturday, November 18 | 2 PM | Moderated by Shana Dumont Garr RSVP

“Vice Versa” celebrates the harmonious balance of opposites. Vibrant geometric shapes, intricate botanical drawings, and sculpture meet in an interplay of contrasting styles. Boundaries blur, revealing a world where artistic expressions seamlessly invert and complement one another.

PRESS RELEASE (PDF)

PRICE LIST (PDF)

Wild and Precious (detail)

Sarah Alexander works in intricate layered detailed drawings and sculptures inspired by the artist's garden. There is covert symbolic meaning behind each plant and seed she collects and depicts. 

Working in a Maximalist style, Alexander creates towers of botanical timelines as they transition from one season to another, exploring the natural order of one’s life cycle, and the dynamics of power, ritual, and succession. 

Alexander’s work is highly detailed, layered, and fluid. She works with multiple materials and mediums, with a focus on drawing, painting, and sculpture. Alexander creates through a stream of consciousness, and the resulting depictions appear gravity-defying. An avid observer of her environment, she engages in daily intuitive drawing sessions in order to access her subconscious. These daily sessions result in obsessive studies with subtle differences within the imagery. Alexander’s final images are imbued with empathy, naturist imagery, and spiraling abstractions.

Alexander is a self-taught studio artist with a rich heritage of artistic lineage. Alexander studied Child Psychology and Development with a minor in Art at Pine Manor College and Mass Bay Community College. Currently, she works as an instructor of drawing, painting, and sculpture at Hopkinton Center for the Arts, and teaches watercolor at the Mass Audubon’s Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in Natick, MA. Her work has been shown extensively throughout New England, and is published by North Light Books. She works out of her studio in Hopedale, MA.

Process Shots

Geotexture 2 (detail)

In this new series, Kay Hartung delves into the realms of color, form, and geometry. She began with small sketches that evolved into vibrant paintings on paper. However, her artistic vision did not stop there; she desired to liberate the geometric forms from the confines of the rectangular form of the paper, allowing them to transcend their two-dimensional existence and stand autonomously.The shaped paintings take on identities and personalities of their own, transcending the boundaries of mere visual representations. She sees them as characters, slightly imbalanced and whimsical, full of color and contrast. As she developed the series she began to think about what sounds they might make. Her husband Paul, a musician, has composed short tunes to go along with some of the pieces. 

She is drawn to the inherent precision and visual impact of these geometric forms but also introduces some organic elements that suggest a sense of whimsy. The varying textural surfaces add depth and tactile richness to the compositions and invite the viewer to explore and engage on a visceral level. Some of the forms suggest connections to architecture, houses, music, nature, and the human body. They relate to symbols of stability, the shelter of home and safety.

In these tumultuous times, Hartung’s artwork serves as an antidote, a visual sanctuary that offers respite from the darkness that surrounds us. Through her exploration of color relationships, and the interplay of abstract elements, she strives to create a space where hope and vibrancy flourish.

 Hartung received a BFA from Philadelphia College of Art, and an MFA from Syracuse University. She has been awarded grants from the Somerville Arts Council, Malden Arts Council and the Ford Foundation. In 2017 she was the recipient of a Merit Award from Vermont Studio Center for a month-long Artist’s Residency. Hartung has contributed to the art community through extensive administrative work often as a project coordinator or jury member and has taught at Endicott College, MA, and Bradford College, MA, among others. Recent exhibitions include Danforth Annual Juried Exhibition 2023, Interconnected: A Fiber Show at Mary Cosgrove Dolphin Gallery, Relationships: Hot/Cold/Intricate at Southern Vermont Art Center. Hartung lives in Acton, MA with her husband Paul and dog Tori.