Jolie Guy: New Sculpture October 18, 2007

Brooklyn, New York, October 18th- Jolie Guy’s exhibition of new sculptures made from paper, opens this week at 440 Gallery, 440 Sixth Avenue. A public reception will be held for the artist on the evening of Saturday, October 20th from 6-8 p.m. The exhibition will be on view from October 18 through November 25th.

The seemingly ephemeral quality of Jolie Guy’s sculpture is, paradoxically, what makes it timeless. Her soft sculptures are gracefully arranged constructions of meticulously handcut lines of paper each creating different kinds of gray. There is a quiet, meditative sense and an echo of the ancient human propensity to gather and collect in discriminating groups; one is reminded of Monet’s haystacks and the seasonal process of harvesting. The subdued palette, however and the medium of paper suggests most vividly a graphic context: they are sketches in the third dimension, scupltural exercises in color and temperature. The work ranges in size from about 3 feet by 4 feet square, to smaller groups of 4 to 12 inches square.
Ms. Guy began working with paper in 2000 as a foray into three dimensional work. A Brooklyn born artist and filmmaker, Guy studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Hunter College, and Harvard University. Her film “Rape Myth Fact” was screened at the Brooklyn Museum. In 2000 she originally embarked on what has become a seven year project “Hugs and Kisses” constructed as a small mountain of the paper strips found inside a popular chocolate candy. This piece was recreated during the “Process” show at 440 Gallery in January as an interactive work of art: visitors to the gallery “collaborated” by unwrapping the candy, presenting the paper tag, and eating the chocolate. Ms. Guy’s recent interest in more formal abstract paper sculpture, which evolved into this current exhibition, began in 2006.

Official Website: http://www.440gallery.com