Harris Lieberman is delighted to announce a unique exhibition of work by Maria Bartuszová, Agnieszka Brzezanska and Miriam Cahn. The artists span three generations and different cultural milieux, yet share a sensual approach to form and female iconography.

Maria Bartuszová worked in relative isolation in Košice, Slovakia, until her death in 1996, developing an intensely personal, post-minimal vocabulary that merits comparison to those of Louise Bourgeois and Eva Hesse. Bartuszová experimented with aluminum, stone, bronze and, most notably, plaster, which she would strap with twine, hang between strings and layer on balloons to produce taut, biomorphic sculptures.

Young Polish artist Agnieszka Brzezanska’s recent work traces visual motifs, such as hearts and orbs, from the cosmic swirls of her lush paintings to the visual imperfections of the camera lens and the urban abstractions documented in her travel-style photographs. In her video Heart Play (2009), the artist and a friend sweetly romp around an apartment with various heart-shaped props, using symbols of love to convey a sentiment of genuine warmth.

The vibrant colors of Swiss artist Miriam Cahn’s paintings belie their subjects: Munchian, often naked figures, caught in mute and startled expressions. Set in hazy relief against bold, pulsating backdrops, Cahn’s subjects peer out from haunted eyes that seemingly bear testament to past atrocities.

Maria Bartuszová (1936 – 1996) was recently featured in Documenta 12, Kassel. She has also exhibited at Soros Center for Contemporary Arts, Bratislava; Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava; and the Danube Museum, Komárno. Her work will be included in a forthcoming exhibition, Les promesses du passé, 1950 – 2010, at Centre Pompidou, Paris.

Agnieskzka Brzezanska, born in Gdansk, Poland, in 1972 lives and works in Berlin and Warsaw. Her work has been included in exhibitions at Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw; Kunstlerhaus Buchsenhausen, Innsbruck, Austria; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and T1-Turin Triennial, Turin. Brzezanska has forthcoming solo exhibitions at daadgalerie, Berlin, and Kunsthaus, Baselland.

Miriam Cahn, born in Basel in 1949, lives and works in Basel and Bergell, Switzerland. She has had solo exhibitions at the Kirchner Museum, Davos; Fundación La Caixa, Madrid; Kunstverein Bonn; Kunsthaus Zürich; and Kunsthalle Basel. Her work has also been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; Neue Natioalgalerie, Berlin; Serpentine Gallery, London; and Museum für moderne Kunst, Frankfurt/Main.