Chamber, One (detail, installed at Ascent Contemporary, New York, 2014. Courtesy of Target Gallery.
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Reception: Saturday, April 16 from 3pm to 5pm
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Target Gallery, the contemporary exhibition space for the Torpedo Factory Art Center, will become canvas for Maine artist Lisa Kellner’s a site-responsive installation, Always into Now. The public is invited to meet Kellner on Second Thursday, April 10, and watch her as she works. The exhibition will then be on view Saturday, April 16 through Sunday, May 29, 2016.
Always into Now is both an environmental sculpture and a painting in space. Using silk organza in a painterly process, she sews thousands of bulbous shapes and creates structures that seem to grow from the walls and ceiling. The work is immersive, yet intimate, and will envelop the entire gallery in a room-sized singular form. Kellner plays with the translucency of the organza to further cast color and shadows across the walls, floors, and viewers, inviting them to become part of the painting.
“I am interested in how that space is inhabited and what occurs when place is infused by history and memory,” said Kellner. “My work combines random patterns in nature with human inclination for order and symmetry. By merging these disparate components, my challenge is to distill experiential space to its very essence, and discover the unspoken place.”
Kellner’s material isn’t dyed. She colors her materials with raw pigments, ink, acrylic, bleach, and even compost to achieve her desired palette. Her work is always temporary and once the exhibition closes, she will separate the pieces and use them in her next installation. She is fascinated with the perfect balance in nature, from the aesthetics of a decaying tree to the subtleties of light, line, and color. She is also captivated by the lives of Cistercian monks living in Western Czech Republic and strives to invoke the complete serenity of the monasteries where they live and work.
“Lisa’s work looks organic and carefree, but it is actually quite labor intensive and painstakingly detailed, which is part of what is so impressive about her installation,” said Kaitlyn Ward, director of the Target Gallery. “She strives to capture the visceral experience of a place and creates these lush, rich surfaces that draw you in.”
This installation was commissioned as part of Target Gallery’s New Media Invitational series, which invites artists to transform the space with a site-specific installation. It was made possible because of contributions made during the 2015 March150 exhibition fundraiser.
About Lisa Kellner
Lisa Kellner has created and installed room-sized installations and two dimensional works throughout the United States since 2006. Her work has been exhibited at the Bellevue Arts Museum in Washington, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Brooklyn Arts Council, and the Weatherspoon Museum in North Carolina, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Cornell Fine Arts Museum in Florida, and Lehman College Art Gallery in New York. In addition, Kellner has worked with galleries including Ascent Contemporary, Project 4, Bravin Lee Projects, and Tarryn Teresa Gallery. Her work has been reviewed in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and Sculpture Magazine. Kellner has lived in Australia, Jamaica, and Western Europe. She earned her bachelor’s from Boston University and continued her studies at the Art Students League and the School of Visual Arts in New York City, focusing on drawing and painting. She earned her MFA from Lesley University’s College of Art and Design. Kellner currently lives and works on a small island off the coast of Maine and in New York City.
Gallery Hours:
- Monday-Wednesday and Friday-Sunday: 10am – 6pm
- Thursdays: 10am – 9pm
Torpedo Factory is located at 105 N. Union St., Alexandria, VA. For more information, visit torpedofactory.org/target.
