McKenzie Fine Art logo
55 Orchard Street, New York, New York 10002 212 989 5467 fax 212 989 5642
 
 

Laura Sharp Wilson: Utah
March 24 - April 30, 2011



Working on a small scale, Laura Sharp Wilson's brightly colored acrylic and graphite paintings are her least figurative and most complex to date. They continue her interest in conveying clarity amidst confusion through the use of dense, overlapping patterning and obsessively precise rendering.  Abstracted forms, which reflect the artist's interest in ornamentation and excessive decoration, are layered on grounds of colored, back-painted, or masked fields of fibrous or printed paper mounted on wood, imparting both visual and surface texture to the work. Throughout, Wilson has retained the coils, ropes, and vines that encircle, bind, interconnect, dangle from, and at times, nearly strangle her forms. 
 
Writing about her new work, Wilson has noted:
 
Two years ago my family relocated to the state of Utah. This collection of abstract paintings is a response to the weight and density of that move. For someone who loves rain and green vegetation, Utah is a strange, unlikable place. There is a certain stigma to living here when you are an artist, especially if you're a faithless, left-leaning east coaster. But then you get tired of hating the place you live in. The beauty of the snow-covered mountains on a clear day starts to seep in. You become fascinated by the curious overlap of Anasazi, Ute, and Navajo, cowboys, Mormons, U.S. military personnel, and the many souls who journeyed here with the expansion of the west.. The red rock country of southern Utah gets visitors from all over the world, because it looks like another planet. Current-day Utah is an environmental battleground, with the largest open-pit copper mine in the world, wolves and bison, a nuclear testing legacy, oil and gas drilling, and some of the worst air quality in the country….Utah is a microcosm, illustrating, in one state, the issues our planet grapples with. These paintings attempt to layer, obscure and cross out, while still coming to a clear visual answer, the complexity I see and feel in Utah.
 
  Laura Sharp Wilson, >In a Cavalcade of Anger and Fear with Strong Arms
In a Cavalcade of Anger and Fear with Strong Arms, 2011
Acrylic and graphite on Mulberry paper on wood
21 3/4 x 15 5/8 inches
Laura Sharp Wilson, Desert Rising (for Tim De Christopher)
Desert Rising (for Tim De Christopher), 2011
Acrylic and graphite on Unryu paper on wood
34 5/8 x 26 5/8 inches
Laura Sharp Wilson, Your Breath Inverted
Your Breath Inverted, 2010
Acrylic and graphite on Unryu paper on wood
20 1/4 x 18 1/8 inches
  Laura Sharp Wilson, Obscured Window
Obscured Window, 2011
Acrylic and graphite on Mulberry paper on wood
13 x 10 inches
Laura Sharp Wilson, Screen
Screen, 2010
Acrylic and graphite on Unryu paper on wood
27 1/4 x 26 3/4 inches
Laura Sharp Wilson, Fear of Idle
Fear of Idle, 2011
Acrylic and graphite on Unryu paper on wood
25 x 20 inches
  Laura Sharp Wilson, Desert
Desert, 2010
Acrylic and graphite on Unryu paper on wood
12 x 12 inches
Laura Sharp Wilson, My Own Planet (for the Girls)
My Own Planet (for the Girls), 2011
Acrylic and graphite on Kozo Cloud paper on wood
13 7/8 x 10 7/8 inches
Laura Sharp Wilson, Yelling at Strangers
Yelling at Strangers, 2010
Acrylic and graphite on Unryu paper on wood
12 x 12 inches
  Laura Sharp Wilson, Mountain and Wagon Wheel Pattern
Mountain and Wagon Wheel Pattern, 2011
Acrylic and graphite on Unryu paper on wood
14 3/8 x 11 3/8 inches
Laura Sharp Wilson, My 1908 House's Vision
My 1908 House's Vision,
2011
Acrylic and graphite on Unryu paper on wood
14 1/4 x 11 1/4 inches
Laura Sharp Wilson, Yellow Brick Road Pioneer Pageant Parade with Red Air
Yellow Brick Road Pioneer Pageant Parade with Red Air, 2011
Acrylic and graphite on Mulberry paper on wood
12 7/8 x 9 7/8 inches
  Laura Sharp Wilson, This Land Struggle
This Land Struggle, 2010
Acrylic and graphite on Unryu paper on wood
10 3/8 x 7 3/8 inches
Laura Sharp Wilson, Ode to a Dead Misogynist
Ode to a Dead Misogynist, 2011
Acrylic and graphite on silk fiber paper on wood
10 1/8 x 7 1/2 inches
Laura Sharp Wilson, Jive Hive
Jive Hive, 2010
Acrylic and graphite on Unryu paper on wood
10 3/8 x 7 3/4 inches
  Laura Sharp Wilson,
Passing Through the Veil, 2011
Acrylic and graphite on printed paper on wood
12 x 9 7/8 inches
Laura Sharp Wilson, Western Vase with Piercing Arrows
Western Vase with Piercing Arrows, 2011
Acrylic and graphite on Unryu paper on wood
12 x 12 inches
  Laura Sharp Wilson, installation 2011 1
Installation view
Laura Sharp Wilson, installation 2011 2
Installation view
Laura Sharp Wilson, installation 2011 3
Installation view
  Laura Sharp Wilson, installation 2011 4
Installation view
Laura Sharp Wilson, installation 2011 5
Installation view
Laura Sharp Wilson, installation 2011 6
Installation view
  Laura Sharp Wilson, installation 2011 7
Installation view
Laura Sharp Wilson, installation 2011 8
Installation view
Laura Sharp Wilson, installation 2011 9
Installation view
return to exhibitions | view more Wilson images
55 Orchard Street, New York, New York 10002 212 989 5467 fax 212 989 5642
email info@mckenziefineart.com