Line Dance

Uprise Art is pleased to present Line Dance, an exhibition of new work by Chloe Fields, Christina Watka, Jackie Meier, Lourenço Providência, and Sarah Sullivan Sherrod.

Providência’s paintings depict two figures entangled in an embrace, their limbs overlap and intersect one another in an intertwining of line - blurring the boundaries of where one ends and the other begins. Using a monochrome palette with simplified silhouettes, Providência’s paintings represent the dissonance and harmony of interpersonal relationships.

Working primarily with soft pastel pencils on textured paper, Fields explores lines that stack and collide with one another in minute and minimalist drawings. Fields embraces the confines of the small-scale page, allowing her limitations to directly dictate her compositions. Inspired by her background in writing, letterpress printing, and design, Fields’ approach to process is playful yet methodical.

In 'Line Dance', line serves as a visual element as well as a conduit for conveying sensation, narrative, and conceptual exploration.

Using acrylic paint and handwoven textiles, Sherrod employs line, shape, and color to emphasize the depiction of language transcending specific alphabets. While typically rooted in auditory cues, Sherrod illustrates how communication can also be highly visual. Lines can represent numbers, or symbols offering instructions, or narratives unfolding through a sequence of abstract assemblages of form.

Christina’s glazed porcelain pieces reference the sights she encounters between the ocean and her studio in coastal Maine. Smoothed stones, spring fog, marshland, and the transition from sea to sky inform the color palette and rounded forms. These forms are then organized into linear and clustered formations, reflecting an intimate sensory exploration of her experience living and creating in New England.

Fusing the abstract with the geometric, Meier begins each painting by drawing a series of ballooning shapes that branch out from a central starting point. Paint is added, scraped, wiped, and blotted in and out of focus. Color is strategically employed to manipulate the perception of form within the space. As the painting progresses, intersecting lines and marks accumulate, capturing a sense of continuous transformation. Meier paints as a means of exploration, using paint to embrace haptic discovery, and to clarify her thoughts on the passage of time.

In Line Dance, line serves as a visual element as well as a conduit for conveying sensation, narrative, and conceptual exploration. From Providência's intimate portrayal of human connection to Watka's interpretation of natural landscapes, each artist demonstrates how line can be manipulated and reimagined to evoke a range of emotions and interpretations.

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