You are the Young and the Hopeless. A selection of paintings and works on paper dating from 2005-2006 will be on view. Of Rae's paintings, Dave Hickey says in his essay "The spill, the pour, the gestural swatch and the painterly drawing, the depictions of natural life and mythological animals, the oriental, the Victorian and the late medieval all coexist in a dreamlike..."
You are the Young and the Hopeless
PaceWildenstein is pleased to present You are the Young
and the Hopeless, Fiona Rae's debut solo show with the gallery and her first New
York exhibition in seven years, at 545 West 22nd Street, New York City from November
3 through December 2, 2006. A selection of paintings and works on paper dating from
2005-2006 will be on view. The works range in size from 23" x 16" to over 7' x 6'. A
catalogue with an essay by Dave Hickey accompanies the exhibition. The gallery will
host a reception for the artist on Friday, November 3rd from 6-8 p.m.
Of Rae's paintings, Dave Hickey says in his essay, a€œThe spill, the pour, the
gestural swatch and the painterly drawing, the depictions of natural life and
mythological animals, the applique and silhouette, the high, the low, the oriental,
the Victorian and the late medieval all coexist in a dreamlike, pre-Enlightenment
pictorial atmosphere that is less concerned with the differences than with
similarities, less concerned with the hierarchal relations than with the lack
thereofa€¦Fiona Rae's new paintings function as palimpsests of her whole persona.
The Hong Kong girlhood is there, the childish enthusiasms, the taste for Bosch and
DAOrer, the New York School aspirations.
Beyond this Hickey examines Fiona Rae's newest work not only in the context of her
own painting over the years but in the larger future of the history of art. What
will happen, he asks, when "diversity reaches the threshold of entropy, when all the
tribes of modernism are, once and forever shattered and dispersed and the covert
bond of 'knowing' between artists, dealers, critics and collectors has evanesced
into the air?" Hickey continues, "...the sense of community that is asserted by
obeying the rules dissolves, and art becomes more wholly visible, more democratic,
more inclusive, and more self-evident."
Fiona Rae (b.1963, Hong Kong) received her B.F.A. from Goldsmiths College, London in
1987. One year later, Damien Hirst included Rae in his now legendary group
exhibition Freeze. In 1990, she was selected for the 44th Venice Biennale, and
nominated for the Turner Prize at the Tate Britain, London in 1991. Soon thereafter,
she was short listed for the Eliette von Karajan Prize for Young Painters in
Austria.
The Saatchi Gallery exhibited Rae's work (with Gary Hume) in 1997, and later that
year, because of her association with the Young British Artists, Rae was included in
the Royal Academy's notorious 1997 traveling exhibition Sensation: Young British
Artists from The Saatchi Collection. She was elected to The Royal Academy in 2002.
In 2002 the Tate Modern commissioned Rae to paint a 10-meter triptych, Shadowland,
for the museum's restaurant. The following year, she received a major commission
for the BBC. The result was, Signal, an installation for Art Site, BBC's
Broadcasting House Public Art Program, in London.
The Carre d'Art, France mounted a large survey exhibition of her work in
2002. Following this show, Rae joined the Timothy Taylor Gallery in London, and her
first solo exhibition, Hong Kong Garden, opened to critical acclaim.
The Tate appointed Rae to its Board of Trustees in 2005.
Fiona Rae's work can be found in 23 public collections worldwide, including the
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, England; Carre d'Art, Musee d'Art Contemporain; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum of
Contemporary Art, Berlin; Museum of Modern Art, Sintra, Portugal; Tate Collection,
London; and Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.
Fiona Rae currently lives and works in London. Additional information is available
upon request by contacting Jennifer Benz Joy, Public Relations Associate, at
212.421.3292 or via email at jjoy@pacewildenstein.com
Image: Fiona Rae Cute Motion!! So Lovely!!, 2005 oil, acrylic and gouache on canvas
91" x 75" (231.1 cm x 190.5 cm)
Fiona Rae opens her first solo exhibition at PaceWildenstein on Friday, November 3rd
PaceWildenstein
PW 545 West 22nd Street NY 10022 New York