Front Gallery

LES Art Week | Drew Shiflett: Sculptural Works 1984–2006

October 17 through October 21, 2018
Opening reception: October 17, 2018, 5–8pm

Drew Shiflett, "Hairy Pink", 1990, paper, glue, plaster, wood, styrofoam, pai.... Image #1163
Drew Shiflett, "Hairy Pink", 1990 (installation view). Image #1162
Drew Shiflett, "Hairy Pink", 1990 (installation view). Image #1164
Drew Shiflett: Sculptural Works 1984–2006 (installation view). Image #1179
Drew Shiflett, "Sheet With Ribbing and Trough", 2003, handmade paper, paper, .... Image #1176
Drew Shiflett, "Sheet With Ribbing and Trough", 2003 9installation view). Image #1177
Drew Shiflett, "Sheet With Ribbing and Trough", 2003, Detail. Image #1074
Drew Shiflett: Sculptural Works 1984–2006 (installation view). Image #1165
Drew Shiflett: Sculptural Works 1984–2006 (installation view). Image #1159
Drew Shiflett: Sculptural Works 1984–2006 (installation view). Image #1174
Drew Shiflett: Sculptural Works 1984–2006 (installation view). Image #1168
Drew Shiflett: Sculptural Works 1984–2006 (installation view). Image #1169
Drew Shiflett: Sculptural Works 1984–2006 (installation view). Image #1170
Drew Shiflett: Sculptural Works 1984–2006 (installation view). Image #1171
Drew Shiflett: Sculptural Works 1984–2006 (installation view). Image #1172
Drew Shiflett: Sculptural Works 1984–2006 (installation view). Image #1175
Drew Shiflett, "Crowd 2", 2001, paper, fabric, glue, wood, cardboard, wire, p.... Image #1053
Drew Shiflett, "Crowd 2", 2001 (installation view). Image #1154
Drew Shiflett, "Crowd 2", 2001 (installation view). Image #1158
Drew Shiflett, "Clouds For Fish", 1992, paper, glue, metal scrap, Styrofoam, .... Image #1061
Drew Shiflett, "Clouds For Fish", 1992 (installation view). Image #1155
Drew Shiflett, "Easel Sculpture #2", 2000, paper, fabric, glue, cardboard, wo.... Image #1068
Drew Shiflett, "Back to Back", 1986, wood, paper, acrylic paint construction,.... Image #1161
Drew Shiflett, "Back to Back", 1986, detail. Image #1065
Drew Shiflett, "Over The Tracks", 1994, paper, glue, wood, conduit, aluminum,.... Image #1070
LES Art Week | Drew Shiflett: Sculptural Works 1984–2006. Image #1178
Drew Shiflett, "Lick", 1998-99, paper, glue, fabric, cardboard, wood, Styrofo.... Image #1069
Drew Shiflett, "Lick", 1998-99 (installation view). Image #1153
Drew Shiflett, "Lick", 1998-99 (installation view). Image #1156
Drew Shiflett, "Chain Link", 2002, handmade paper, fabric, glue, polyester st.... Image #1152
Drew Shiflett, "Chain Link", 2002, detail. Image #1067
Drew Shiflett, "Woman On Chair Next to Woman On Bed", 1984, wood, paper, acry.... Image #1077

 

Lower East Side Art Week

Drew Shiflett: Sculptural Works 1984–2006
October 17–21, 2018

Opening Reception: Wednesday, October 17, 5–8pm
Meet the Artist and Exhibition Walk-Through: Saturday, October 20, 2–3pm

 

Lesley Heller Gallery is thrilled to present a special one-week exhibition—on the occasion of the inaugural Lower East Side Art Week—of early sculptural works by Drew Shiflett, spanning her career from 1984-2006. The exhibition is comprised of pieces that anticipate—in technique and methodology—her current studio practice.

Shiflett examines surface, structure, and texture in complex works that are defined by process and material. The pieces are constructed using her own organic method of building: a slow, intimate, and labor-intensive additive sculptural technique, which draws the viewer deep into the architecture of the piece. Shiflett uses a range of materials including handmade paper, polyester stuffing, Styrofoam, cheesecloth, wood, metal scrap, glue, and plaster. These materials—which were integral to her earlier bodies of work—show the beginnings and inspiration for her current focus on paper, canvas, and the grid.

The artist’s current work—which she creates by cutting and shredding handmade paper and canvas into thin strips before gluing, layering and weaving the materials into intricate and intuitive grids—can find its origins in the details of these early sculptures. As with her recent work, the earlier sculptural pieces on view in this exhibition highlight Shiflett’s instinctive sense of meditation. Each cumulative detail of the work serves as a physical gesture on its surface, and also a notation for marking a vision in and apart from the realm of time. Viewers are drawn into the archeology of the works’ surface, piecing together marks and materials to form their own understanding of the process.

This will be the artist’s 5th solo exhibition with the gallery.

 

Drew Shiflett has had solo exhibitions at White Columns; The InterArt Center; Fashion Moda; Guild Hall Museum; The Drawing Room; and Islip Art Museum. Her work has also been shown nationally and internationally at institutions including The Drawing Center (New York, NY), Weatherspoon Art Museum (Greensboro, NC), Sculpture Center (New York, NY), Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, (Louisville, KY), A&A Gallery, Yale University School of Art (New Haven, CT), Baltimore Museum of Art, and Kunststiftung K52 (Berlin, Germany).  

Shiflett’s work has been highlighted in numerous publications including The New York Times, Art In America, The Wall Street Journal, and the Huffington Post. She is the recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts award in printmaking/drawing/book arts and in sculpture; a Mid Atlantic/NEA Regional Visual Arts Fellowship award in sculpture; and a Guggenheim Fellowship award in fine arts. She lives and works in New York City.

 

More info on the LES Art Week  can be found at https://www.lesartweek.com/ .