November 28 - December 23, 2006
Main Gallery

Curated by Shazzi Thomas

Press Release | Online Feature

The Painting Center presents “Surface Tension” an exhibition curated by Shazzi Thomas that features the experimental work of ten artists who are creating a dialogue between painting and sculpture. The artists represented are: Megan Biddle, Kevin Cowl, Mary Jane Duffy, David Eddleston, Alan Goodson Fulle, Rosella Mulone, Nicholas Pella, Suzanne Russo, Laurel Sparks, and Annette Wehrhahn.

The artists in “Surface Tension” have stretched, manipulated and morphed the plane of the surface in ways that challenge traditional ideas of both painting and sculpture. While surface articulation may range from flat to sculptural, in all of this work there is a visual tension between the actuality of the object and the painterly space that is simultaneously perceived.

Using a variety of materials such as latex, plaster and enamel on surfaces like wood, epoxy resin and fiberglass, these artists are building up the plane and playing with dimensionality. In some works, an illusion of three-dimensionality may require the viewer to become aware of his or her sense of form, mass and space. Other artists allow the materials and process to create a surface that engages the sense of touch as well as sight, or they may use transparency to enable the viewer to penetrate the surface. From a limitless interiority to a built-out exterior space, the viewer experiences many aspects of spatial ambiguity as well as the intriguing intersection of medium, surface and illusion. The ten artists in “Surface Tension” are examining the boundaries between painting and sculpture as they explore the expanse of the surface.Paintings by: Megan Biddle, Kevin Cowl, Mary Jane Duffy, David Eddleston, Alan Goodson Fulle, Rosella Mulone, Nicholas Pella, Suzanne Russo, Laurel Sparks, Annette Wehrhahn