Unease
Sculpture and Drawings
April 26–May 21, 2022
Pale Memory, antique wringer, silk, printed images, steel stand, 52 x 28 x 17 inches, 2022
Reception: Thursday, April 28, 5–8 PM
FIRST STREET GALLERY is pleased to present Unease, an exhibition of sculpture and drawings by Marion Held on view from April 26 through May 21, 2022.
Marion Held’s mixed media sculptures are filled with stories the works can tell or suggest, hovering between the deeply personal and the universal, the real and the imaginary. The work Pale Memory, for example, consists of a length of silk, printed with ambiguous biological images, caught in the machinery of an antique clothes wringer. It is evocative of timelessness, memory, corporeal and spiritual matters—concepts and themes that are central to Held’s artistic explorations. Held works with a wide variety of materials, natural and handmade, cast, sculpted, printed, sewn, drawn, found, and repurposed. The incongruous elements are juxtaposed in playful and unexpected ways, inviting the viewer to add to the story the work conveys.
In this exhibition appropriately named Unease, Held’s drawings are a visceral response to the pandemic of the past two years. Suggestive of enigmatic organisms, they are created in charcoal, micron pen, graphite, and watercolor, and reflect the uncertainty and angst of life during COVID-19.
Held has exhibited widely in the US and internationally, including Canada, Japan, Senegal, Israel, Poland, and Spain. Selected reviews of her work are published in The New York Times, Newark Star Ledger, Sculpture magazine, Art and Visual Perception, NY Arts, American Ceramics, and more. She lives in the greater NY metropolitan area and is exhibiting at First Street Gallery for the first time.
Special Gallery Hours for this Exhibition: Sunday May 15, 2-5pm
The Artist will also be in the Gallery: Saturday April 30, May 7 and May 21, 2-5 PM
See more of Marion’s work at www.marionheld.com
