You won’t find many portraits of women in Colorado artist Carly Owens Weiss’ most recent series. But you will find close-ups of plump breasts, glossy lips, bejeweled earlobes, and well-manicured hands. According to a press statement from Tracey Morgan Gallery, the Asheville venue where Weiss will present new paintings this November, this “compression and fragmentation creates an ambiguity, leaving room for divergent narratives.” There is the suggestion that “what is occluded or veiled is as much of a protagonist as what is depicted. The work exists in a gray space, living somewhere between liberation and shame, power and powerlessness, fantasy and reality.” Running through late December, The Boys Will Get Hungry If They See Fruit features female forms as well as symbolic elements from classical antiquity, such as fruit, pearls, and mirrors. Through “dark, theatrical, and enigmatic” brushstrokes, Weiss riffs on how these symbols have been historically used to represent women. “Through my pieces, I aim to recontextualize perceptions of womanhood and exert my own influence over imagery within the art historical canon to instill a sense of empowerment and autonomy,” she shares. “Through this process, I am learning to harness my own power in a reality where I often feel like I have none.”
The Boys Will Get Hungry If They See Fruit: November 15-December 21; Opening Reception: Friday, November 15, 6-8pm
Tracey Morgan Gallery / 22 London Rd., Asheville / traceymorgangallery.com