Annie Bielski
We are thrilled to present Annie Bielski: Raw Footage, the artist’s second solo exhibition with the gallery, opening Saturday, May 18, 5-7pm. Bielski will present a series of large-scale paintings that will flank the north gallery walls, and a series of equal-sized small works on panel and paper that will encircle the south gallery. The exhibition is a testament to Bielski’s robust practice and her adept facility of moving through significant size shifts with ease.
Bielski’s new body of work is bold and exuberant. Her paintings are evidence of an artist who is always looking---at mismatched paint in curious shapes meant to cover graffiti on the sides of buildings, the way trees wrap around one another on walks near her studio, and the work of her creative heroes. In Bielski’s paintings, we have something of the affirmative brushstrokes of Franz Klein rescripted with the curves and chrome of Elizabeth Murray, infused with the staining of Helen Frankenthaller, and built with the intuitive confidence of Charline von Heyl. We also have the creative singularity of an artist who arrived at the fullness of painting through performance and poetry. Raw Footage contains everything- all of the colors, details, light, and life exactly as it has been captured by the artist’s sensors.
Bielski’s approach is one of staining, drawing, building, and leaving evidence of what came before. Along with scale, the physicality of her process is evident in her use of expansive washes of color and large swooping mark-making on raw canvas. Discovering as she works, she responds to intuitive gestures and moves through with curiosity. There is an element of storytelling communicated through color and the assertion of one form interacting with the next.
As Bielski builds a painting, she often begins on the floor and soon hangs the canvas to meet her head on, turning the stretcher by degrees until she lands at finished. For Bielski, completion is not a conclusion, but rather an offering of openness, a nod to former stages of the painting, and a wink at the mutability of it all.
ANNIE BIELSKI (b. 1990 in Toledo, OH) received her BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and her MFA from the University at Buffalo (SUNY). Bielski is an artist, performer, and writer. Exhibitions include Agita, Rachel Uffner Gallery (New York, NY); Strong Winds May Exist, SEPTEMBER (Hudson, NY); Loveland, SEPTEMBER (Hudson, NY); NADA (New York, NY); Bluets, Burning in Water (New York, NY); The Hardest Part is Just Gettin’ Here, Paris London Hong Kong (Chicago, IL); only to find, High Tide (Philadelphia, PA); a rose is a rose is a cave, Motel (Brooklyn, NY); Alongside:: D,A,K,A, Lodos, (Mexico City, Mexico); PICA’S TBA:16 with Dan Bunny/Bunnybrains, The Portland Institute of Contemporary Art (Portland, OR); Strutting, Fretting, UB Art Galleries at The University of Buffalo (Buffalo, NY); among others. Bielski has performed at SEPTEMBER, The Museum of Modern Art, Coustof Waxman, Allen & Eldridge, Rachel Uffner Gallery, CANADA, and elsewhere. She was the Artist in Residence at Basilica Back Gallery in 2018, and participated in 1-844-NOT-Z00M ARCHIVES, Vol. 2, at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2020. She has collaborated with the University at Buffalo and FORT MAKERS to create limited edition objects and prints, and has released three zines independently. Bielski has collaborated with musician Jenny Hval, performed across the US and Europe, and contributed album art and music video visuals to Hval’s 2022 album, Classic Objects. She has interviewed numerous artists for The Creative Independent, and is a contributor to the monograph Molly Zuckerman-Hartung: Comic Relief. Bielski’s work, performances, and writing have been covered by Art News, Hyperallergic, MTV, The New York Times, among others. Bielski has taught at The University of New Mexico and SUNY Buffalo, and currently lives and works in upstate New York.
Bielski’s new body of work is bold and exuberant. Her paintings are evidence of an artist who is always looking---at mismatched paint in curious shapes meant to cover graffiti on the sides of buildings, the way trees wrap around one another on walks near her studio, and the work of her creative heroes. In Bielski’s paintings, we have something of the affirmative brushstrokes of Franz Klein rescripted with the curves and chrome of Elizabeth Murray, infused with the staining of Helen Frankenthaller, and built with the intuitive confidence of Charline von Heyl. We also have the creative singularity of an artist who arrived at the fullness of painting through performance and poetry. Raw Footage contains everything- all of the colors, details, light, and life exactly as it has been captured by the artist’s sensors.
Bielski’s approach is one of staining, drawing, building, and leaving evidence of what came before. Along with scale, the physicality of her process is evident in her use of expansive washes of color and large swooping mark-making on raw canvas. Discovering as she works, she responds to intuitive gestures and moves through with curiosity. There is an element of storytelling communicated through color and the assertion of one form interacting with the next.
As Bielski builds a painting, she often begins on the floor and soon hangs the canvas to meet her head on, turning the stretcher by degrees until she lands at finished. For Bielski, completion is not a conclusion, but rather an offering of openness, a nod to former stages of the painting, and a wink at the mutability of it all.
ANNIE BIELSKI (b. 1990 in Toledo, OH) received her BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and her MFA from the University at Buffalo (SUNY). Bielski is an artist, performer, and writer. Exhibitions include Agita, Rachel Uffner Gallery (New York, NY); Strong Winds May Exist, SEPTEMBER (Hudson, NY); Loveland, SEPTEMBER (Hudson, NY); NADA (New York, NY); Bluets, Burning in Water (New York, NY); The Hardest Part is Just Gettin’ Here, Paris London Hong Kong (Chicago, IL); only to find, High Tide (Philadelphia, PA); a rose is a rose is a cave, Motel (Brooklyn, NY); Alongside:: D,A,K,A, Lodos, (Mexico City, Mexico); PICA’S TBA:16 with Dan Bunny/Bunnybrains, The Portland Institute of Contemporary Art (Portland, OR); Strutting, Fretting, UB Art Galleries at The University of Buffalo (Buffalo, NY); among others. Bielski has performed at SEPTEMBER, The Museum of Modern Art, Coustof Waxman, Allen & Eldridge, Rachel Uffner Gallery, CANADA, and elsewhere. She was the Artist in Residence at Basilica Back Gallery in 2018, and participated in 1-844-NOT-Z00M ARCHIVES, Vol. 2, at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2020. She has collaborated with the University at Buffalo and FORT MAKERS to create limited edition objects and prints, and has released three zines independently. Bielski has collaborated with musician Jenny Hval, performed across the US and Europe, and contributed album art and music video visuals to Hval’s 2022 album, Classic Objects. She has interviewed numerous artists for The Creative Independent, and is a contributor to the monograph Molly Zuckerman-Hartung: Comic Relief. Bielski’s work, performances, and writing have been covered by Art News, Hyperallergic, MTV, The New York Times, among others. Bielski has taught at The University of New Mexico and SUNY Buffalo, and currently lives and works in upstate New York.
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