Underdonk

press release

On view: Nov. 23 – Dec. 22, 2019
Gallery Hours: Sat and Sun 1-6 pm, and by appointment
Closing Reception: Sun., Dec. 22, 2019, 4-6 pm

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Underdonk is pleased to present Memories Are Starting Points: Iteration #001, a solo exhibition by Beatrice Wolert curated by Melissa Staiger.

Wolert is a first-generation Polish-American mixed-media artist raised in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. She taps into her personal history to explore how individual memories and experiences change and develop over time, and in doing so, she invites participants to explore their own connections.

In this unique installation, Wolert is combining her recent and past projects to show how the past is seen and how the future can be envisioned. By utilizing varied materials including tape, mylar, zippers, thread, fabric, cement, clay, carpet tufts, flowers, stones, and photographs, she creates tactile and temporal pieces. Weathered elements and materials such as dirt, unfired clay, rust, and flowers highlight the passage of time. Her photographs and highly textural works examine the fluidity of experience.

By allowing residue from former projects and natural living elements to enter the conversation, a shift happens in the work itself. The ephemeral layers begin to interweave, forming a temporal narrative: bridging earth and sky, memory and tactility, individual and collective.

Memories are not linear, but rather fluid and ever-changing by shared and lived experiences – they can be built upon. This re-contextualization as a whole is the foundation of reenvisioned, new and alternate futures, and the audience has a hand in shaping it.

PUBLIC PROGRAM PERFORMANCE: Sun, Dec. 8, 2019, 4-6 pm
Wolert’s maternal grandmother (H.C.) survived two World Wars in Poland and came to live with her family when she was an infant. During World War II, H.C. found herself cooking for German soldiers as a means to survive.

The artist was deeply influenced by her grandmother, which continues to inform her practice over the years. Gone now for a number of years, Wolert recalls the importance of preparing food and the way that H.C. made pierogi, pickled mushrooms and sorted through buckets of blueberries to make preserves.

The most lasting impression was how H.C. cut cabbage on her chest. In 2006, Wolert created the Attempt at a Memory: Grandma Cuts Cabbage videos as a way to connect and recall process, to ultimately preserve a memory. This led to cutting industrial spools of thread forming the ongoing Sliced Thread series.

In her public performance, Wolert will recreate Attempt at a Memory: Grandma Cuts Cabbage #003. In past iterations, she recalled and captured a memory. This time, she invites participants to witness the cabbage cutting act while she attempts to honor and embody her grandmother’s presence.

ARTIST BIO
Beatrice Wolert is a first-generation Polish American visual artist. She was raised in Greenpoint, Brooklyn where she lives and maintains her studio practice. Wolert works between genres to explore concepts of impermanence, essentiality, and serendipity through the transformation of everyday materials and found objects. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Design from Adelphi University and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Pratt Institute.

Her work has been exhibited at venues such as ABC No Rio, A.I.R. Gallery, Artists Space, Denise Bibro, D.U.M.B.O. Art Center, Elizabeth Foundation for the ARTS, Feature, Inc., Ground Floor Gallery, Hudson Guild, HQ, Janet Kurnatowski, Lorimoto, NURTUREart, Park Church Co-Op, Roxbury Art Group, Trestle Contemporary Art Gallery, Trestle Projects, and Exit Art in New York.

Nationally and internationally, she has exhibited at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, Hera Gallery, Wakefield, RI, BLAM Projects in Los Angeles, The Aratoi Wairarapa Museum of Art and History in New Zealand, and Creative Innovation Center CIC, Taunton, England, amongst others. She has installed numerous public outdoor installations, given artist talks and partook in the Elizabeth Foundation for the Art’s shift residency, New York, NY, and the Bridge Residency, Los Angeles, CA. More: beawolert.com, Instagram @beawolert.

CURATOR BIO
Melissa Staiger is a New York City-based artist and independent curator. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Maryland Institute, College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland and a Master of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Most recently, Staiger co-curated the well-received exhibition Pamela Colman Smith: Life and Work with Colleen Lynch at Pratt Institute Libraries, Brooklyn Campus. For the past decade, she has curated multiple exhibitions and was selected to be the curator-in-residence at Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn, during 2016. Currently, she serves on the board of ABC No Rio, is a member of Underdonk, and a member of the American Abstract Artists. More: melissastaiger.com, Instagram @melissastaiger.

Pierogi Project: Limited Edition Golden Pierog
$100.00 + tax and shipping, purchase online and pick up at Underdonk or get it shipped, click on image for more details. The sales support the artist and programming at Underdonk Gallery.