Blackston is pleased to present Gather-er, an exhibition of new large and mid-scale sculptures by Rachel Beach. A reception for the artist will be held on Thursday, February 20th from 6 to 8 p.m.

Blackston is pleased to present Gather-er, an exhibition of new large and mid-scale sculptures by Rachel Beach.

Beach’s first solo show at Blackston comprises one large-scale grid-like sculpture constructed of reclaimed wooden beams and painted plywood, in addition to smaller sculptural works of geometric columns constructed of wood, aluminum and a variety of painted surfaces. Beach employs sculptural form and rigorous engineering with painted representation of form to create a destabilizing perceptive experience suspended between sculptural space and painted space. Many of the works appear to defy the natural balance of an object, and seem to rely on empty space for support.

Embracing equally the solid and void, each of the works on view explores the tensions between weight and form, perception and edge, concrete and negative space, scale and material—and the impact of architectural scale on perception and experience.

Beach’s interest in the frequent dissonance between the concrete, physical, logical, structural and more illusive cultural beliefs of meaning, value and perception is at the core of her work. Each of her sculptures delivers elements of Minimalist thought combined with influences from a longer term archeological and architectural lineage: adding humanism and an element of mystery to pure logic. The exhibition alludes to the cultural and historical pecking and plundering that characterizes an artist’s practice, as well as to the viewer’s response in assimilating meaning through physicality and visual cues.

Beach was born in London, Canada and lives in New York. She received her MFA from Yale University in 2001 and BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1998. Her work has been exhibited in the United States and Canada at venues in solo and group exhibitions including Bespoke Gallery, Like the Spice Gallery and Mixed Greens in New York; Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art and MSVU Art Gallery in Canada. She is a recent recipient of a Canada Council for the Arts grant, Artist Residency at the Lower East Side Printshop and is currently an Emerging Artist Fellow at Socrates Sculpture Park in New York.

The artist wishes to thank the Lower East Side Printshop.