Molly Herman: Lingua Franca

exhibition dates: April 22 - May 17, 2014

reception: Thursday, April 24, 6 - 8 pm

The Painting Center is pleased to present an exhibition of recent paintings by Molly Herman, titled Lingua Franca. Her work is concerned with the elemental language or “building blocks” of the painting process: pigment, mark-making, texture, surface, scale, etc.

Herman states, “the musical form of Raga resonates with me as a compositional approach which employs a tonal framework as a basis for improvisation and songs are often preformed as a catalyst toward spiritual transcendence. However, my own work aims to plainly reveal process, as with my “lozenge paintings” which reduce the range of mark-making to a steady staccato, allowing color, light and texture the freedom to interweave through the structure of marks – and new patterns or forms begin to morph.”

Other works of Herman’s explore the supporting surface of the painting by integrating collage elements quietly within the composition or acting to subtly shift the ground against a painted layer. Rather than illustrate inspiration, her paintings pull a willing viewer toward a deeper experience of the visceral metaphors embedded within a painterly world.

Molly Herman was born in Washington, DC. She received her BFA in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University and her MFA from The School of Visual Arts, in Manhattan. She has exhibited extensively including a recent solo exhibition at Amy Simon Fine Art, in Westport, CT. Additional exhibitions include …Flight From Nature at the National Arts Club, NY; In Flux at Seton Hall University, NJ; John Davis Gallery, NY and the Bowery Gallery, NY. Visit www.mollyherman.com for more information.