We are pleased to announce that artist Sharon Louden will be exhibiting Hedge, a series of paintings on wood panels at Oliver Kamm/5BE Gallery. This is her first solo exhibition at Oliver Kamm/5BE Gallery.

Mostly known for her large scale installations and drawings, this exhibition will be the second time Louden will show paintings since she graduated with a MFA from Yale in 1991. Hedge is a series of paintings, inspired by her animation of the same name, that displays clusters of whimsical gestures in various colors against deep black, vast, stark, semi-gloss, beautiful surfaces. Although abstract and formal, Louden’s language of characters have human-like aspects within their minimal state, made of simple line and gesture that are physical and yet transparent. Through the specific, awkward placement of these forms, they also evoke movement and character.

Hedge is about Louden’s signature gestures that quietly hide and evoke the illusion of movement within endless black spaces. They also provide a place for the artist to hide, behind and beyond the Hedge.

“It is important for me to create the illusion of a three-dimensional form that, through its subtlety and beauty, elicits a presence in its own world,” Louden says.

Benjamin Genocchio of the New York Times wrote of Louden’s work, “There is a sculptural quality to her drawings that is unusual; sitting on top of the paper the brushstrokes feel airborne, as if the artist blew them out of her hand.”

Sharon M. Louden graduated with a B.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from Yale University, School of Art. Her work has been exhibited in numerous venues including the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, the Drawing Center, Carnegie Mellon University and Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. You can find her work in the permanent collections of the Neuberger Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Yale University Art Gallery, Weatherspoon Art Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Recent exhibitions include a major survey at the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, New York, and group exhibitions at the Jewish Museum and List Art Center at Brown University last year. Upcoming exhibitions include a group show at the Katonah Museum of Art this November as well as a solo exhibition of newly commissioned work at the Birmingham Museum of Art in September, 2008.