Amaral Presents Transcending 3-D Surfaces

Olga De Amaral: Places, an exhibition of 23 three-dimensional surfaces, will open at the Nohra Haime Gallery on Thursday, September 13th from 6-8 p.m.

First exhibited in New York at the André Emmerich Gallery in 1973, Amaral's abstract "golden surfaces of light" are unlike anything else. Transcending any one specific media, her work plays a unique balancing act between fine art and fiber art.  Filling a gap that is virtually untouched, she pulls inspiration from Pre-Colombian weaving and Colonial gilding, abstracting them to the extent of universality. Gold has become a formal part of her vocabulary and renders her work collectively recognizable.

Methodically assembled with a myriad of rectangular pre-fabricated pieces of fiber made into strips and rolls, the artist recreates the inner world of the universe.  She choreographs these compositions with a labyrinth of winding, swirling and twisting interwoven patterns. Wind, light, mountains, trees, and rivers take heroic grandeur in her exploration of the universe.

In Montaña 23, (Mountain 23) 2005, she adds parchment, an ancient material made from animal skin used for writing, thus investing the work with an added timeless element. Amaral manipulates this natural ingredient, working it into the linen, forming a cascade of abstract shapes that fall into an easy flow of horizontal lines, hinting at a distant mountain and the sparkling river at its feet.

In Nudo X, XII and XIII, (Knot 10, 12 and 13) 2011-12, three knots of numerous gold, blue and black threads descend freely from the ceiling into a majestic swirl on the ground. Overwhelmingly lyrical, they underscore the transformational qualities of thread, and its interaction with the environment.

Amaral successfully crosses the boundaries between painting, sculpture and textile. Her work is the antithesis of conventional, continually gathering inspiration and spanning the physical, cultural, economic and earthly aspects of our universe.

Born in Bogotá, Colombia, Olga de Amaral studied at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. During the 1960s, Amaral played an important role in transforming traditional two-dimensional textiles into sculptural works of art. In 1973 she was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship, and in 2005 she was selected as a Visionary Artist by the Museum of Art and Design in New York, an award that celebrates her commitment to the highest quality. They highlighted how Amaral "seamlessly integrates art, craft and design through engagement with both materials and process."  She is represented in the collections of over 40 museums worldwide including the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Images Courtesy: Nohra Haime Gallery