Honor Fraser Gallery will present new paintings by Annie Lapin at Miart 2016 in booth D28.
Investigating the process of perception, Annie Lapin constructs paintings that flirt with representation but reject illusion. Working in an abstract mode, Lapin uses a broad repertory of gestures. Her marks allude to art historical references as diverse as Rembrandt’s crayon drawings and Matisse’s cut-outs, and her compositions recall cultural reference points as divergent as traditional Chinese painting, Surrealism and contemporary digital animation. By presenting an array of contiguous marks and references in a single picture plane, Lapin opens up space for the viewer to simultaneously apprehend the work and experience the activity and sensation of comprehension. Her goal is to heighten and prolong the moments between perception in a purely physical sense and cognition as a process leading to intellectual understanding. For Miart 2016, Lapin’s suite of six paintings differ greatly in scale. Large vertical paintings suggest an immersive space while smaller works invite an intimate look at the textures of paint and linen. Spare black and instances of raw linen give way to transparent washes of color and intense blasts of bright hues that alternately harmonize with and cause friction between Lapin’s heterogeneous gestures.
Annie Lapin was born in Washington, D.C. and lives in Los Angeles. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University in 2001; a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate from the School of the Art Institute, Chicago in 2004; and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2007. Honor Fraser Gallery has presented two exhibitions featuring her work to date: Various Peep Shows (2014) and The Pure Space Animate (2001). Her third exhibition with the gallery will open in November 2016.
One-person exhibitions of Lapin’s work have been presented at the Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC (2013); Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA (2012); Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, CA (2009); and Grand Arts, Kansas City, MO (2008). Her work has been included in group exhibitions such as Sincerely Yours, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA (2015); The Go-Between, Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy (2014); Chasm of the Supernova, Center for the Arts Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, CA (2012); La Californie, The Museum of Public Fiction, Los Angeles, CA (2011); Unfinished Paintings, LACE: Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA (2011); and NewNow, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS (2009).
Lapin was the recipient of the Falk Visiting Artist Award from the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, NC in 2013.
