Edward Thorp Gallery to Open Judith Simonian Exhibition, Today

The Edward Thorp Gallery has announced an exhibit of recent works by Judith Simonian. This will be her first one-person show with the gallery. The artist will be showing both large- and small-scale acrylic paintings, as well as watercolors on paper, all from last two years. The show will be on view from April 25 to June 1, 2013. The opening reception is set for Thursday, April 25, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Simonian's ruminative landscapes and interiors fluidly combine gestural painting, stenciling and collage to create unsettling perspectives. The surfaces are composed of juxtaposed images garnered from direct observation, mental snapshots the artist takes during travels, as well as sourced imagery culled from old travel brochures, vacation pictures and film stills. Her combinations achieve an uncanny play between flatness and three dimensionality. In "Two Red Chairs," a picturesque scene hovering between the literal and the hallucinatory, a spacious balcony is presented overlooking a faded blue vista. In this and other works, surface areas mutate, merge or collide as furniture dissolves into a vertical cascade of color that fuses foreground and background in a playfully controlled environment.

Simonian's images metamorphose before our eyes. The artist has stated that she is "inspired by mishearing, mis-seeing, bad literary translations, and theatrical stage sets that convince but are fundamentally unreliable". In these new works, she continues to push the boundaries of perceived space, creating an uneasy atmosphere full of spatial illusion.

Edward Thorp Gallery is located at 210 Eleventh Avenue, 6th Fl, New York, NY 10001. Call 212.691.6565, email edwardthorpgallery@gmail.com or visit www.edwardthorpgallery.com for more information. Hours: Tues.-Sat., 11am to 6pm.

Artwork: Two Red Chairs, 2012, Acrylic on canvas, 50h x 66w in.