Annie Buckley

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


WHEN: October 11 – November 8, 2008

RECEPTION: Sat, October 11, 6-9 p.m.

HOURS: Tues-Sat, 11-6 or by appointment



Carl Berg Gallery is pleased to present new works by Annie Buckley in her first solo exhibition since receiving her MFA from Otis College of Art and Design in 2003, and her second exhibition with the gallery. Buckley’s new works blend digital photographs into large-scale invented portraits of women morphing into trees. Her work has been included in numerous exhibitions, including It Figures at the Torrance Museum of Art in 2007. Also opening this month, Buckley’s work is included in a group show at Andrewshire Gallery and one of her short stories is included in a project opening at Arena 1 Gallery.

For the past five years, Buckley’s collages have combined photographs of various body parts into layered images based on the patterns and forms of biological, philosophical and natural structures. The results, rooted in abstraction, eliminated any recognizable person or body in favor of depicting an experience or state of being. Hybrids represents a new direction in Buckley’s work, in which the body is identifiable, yet changed into a kind of imaginary portraiture. Inspired as much by the desire to challenge historic depictions of women, as by the increased urgency of recognizing our interdependence with nature, these hybridized characters are neither fully human nor botanical. The women who posed for Hybrids are friends or relatives of the artist and the trees are located in and around Los Angeles. Hardly anonymous, the subjects took an active role in the process, selecting their own clothing, posture, and often trees. The resulting figures blend the surreal quality of daydreams and meditation - or being lost in a story - with the impact of individuality.

Buckley has worked on the edges of photography for many years, exploring the medium’s physicality alongside its more ephemeral qualities through printing on various materials, including plastic, metal and glass, and utilizing lightboxes to reveal the transparent layers of digital collage. These new works are printed on semi-translucent paper and hung away from the wall so that the air and light can move freely around them.

Buckley’s works have been included in exhibitions at university and commercial art galleries since 1993. In 1996, she participated in an artist exchange with Tijuana, Mexico organized by the Department of Cultural Affairs. In 2003, she was selected as a participating artist in the Lowe Gallery Invitational as well as for LACMA’s Art Here and Now Tour. In addition, Buckley is a participating writer and one of the organizers of Nothing Moments, a large collaborative project including the work of 101 artists, writers, and designers that is currently traveling to cities in the U.S. and opens this month at the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, Florida. Also a writer, Buckley has published short fiction, children’s books, and numerous reviews, articles, and essays on contemporary art.

A catalogue, with an essay by Sharon Mizota, has been published with this exhibition.

For more information contact: Carl Berg: Tel: 323-931-6060.