Venetia Kapernekas Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by Beth Brideau. For her first exhibition with the gallery, the artist has created a series of large metallic watercolor on paper paintings and ceramic sculpture. The paintings are rendered in zinc, pewter, stainless steel, and aluminum.

In the tradition of American Landscape painting, Brideau documents the beauty and deterioration of the American terrain. Brideau’s abstraction of trees, viewed from an aerial perspective, form alternative landscapes that both celebrate the awe-inspiring, inchoate nature of elemental progress and the fear of its current decline.

In her Capitol Series metallic watercolors, ranging in size from 48 to 108 inches long, share their titles with works of art exhibited in the halls of the United States Capitol Building. The aerial landscape images are the locations of the historic moments depicted in original art works that celebrated seminal moments in American history. The titles, chosen for their evocative character such as, General George Washington Resigning his Commission to Congress as Commander in Chief of the Army at Annapolis, Maryland, December 23rd 1783, and Baptism of Pocahontas at Jamestown, Virginia 1613, point to ambiguities in how one views and questions the foundation myths of American history.

Echoing the watercolors are segments of a large ceramic sculpture in which landscapes are represented by tuberous ruby pink forms. A work in progress, the completed sculpture will cover 160 sq feet.

Born in 1976 in Richmond, Virginia, Beth Brideau received a MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Brideau has exhibited at AR Contemporary, Milan, Longwood Gallery, Bronx, New York, Southfirst Art Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, and NAO Project Gallery, Boston.

Her work is in both public and private collections.