Her work is an investigation of the very fundamentals of painting: color and form. She begins each painting with a set of rapid, uncensored sketches, composing and dividing space, opening the planar boundaries between figure and ground to make room for a new dynamism of color. The collection will feature her latest explorations in geometric abstraction and composition.
ÂThe Broadway Gallery is proud to announce the opening of Julie
Karabenick¹s new exhibition. Scheduled to run from November 1st through the
15th, the collection will feature her latest explorations in geometric
abstraction and composition.
Karabenick¹s work is an investigation of the very fundamentals of painting:
color and form. She begins each painting with a set of rapid, uncensored
sketches, composing and dividing space, opening the planar boundaries
between figure and ground to make room for a new dynamism of color. She then
employs the computer to conduct a set of color studies and refine her
compositional choices, to manipulate the interplay of hues and values.
Bringing the work back to the human hand, however, she applies opaque
acrylics onto the canvas in strong, angular forms resulting in flat, frontal
compositions. The asymmetric variations on the single shape of the rectangle
upon a uniform surface facilitate a reading of relations and oppositions, an
exercise which preoccupies Karabenick. In this way, she uses new media to
reinvent standardized practices of Geometric Abstraction. Integrating the
procedural with the structural, the colors move the eye around the canvas
much like action painting. She keeps her compositions large and open, moving
toward Mondrian¹s formidable sense of dynamic equilibrium.
Born in Evanston, Illinois, Karabenick attended the University of Michigan,
earning a BA in French and Ph. D. in Psychology. She has participated in
group shows at a variety of venues, including the Lansing Art Gallery, in
Lansing, MI, the Artemisia Gallery, in Chicago, IL, and Media Union Gallery,
at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. More recently, she has had solo
shows at Washington Street Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI, and the Kerrytown Concert
House, Ann Arbor, MI. This will be Karabenick¹s second solo exhibition at
the Broadway Gallery.
Opening Reception November 6, 6-8 pm.
Immage: Composition 32, acrylic on canvas, 30" x 30", 2003, Copyright © 2003 Julie Karabenick
The Broadway Gallery, 473 Broadway, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10013