Emma Amos On Exhibit At Flomenhaft Through 2/27

Higher and Higher is the way to go with the newest works by Emma Amos!
The triptych, Higher and Higher, celebrates 2009 for the leaps our country and its people have made since Reconstruction. The painting was an occasion for Emma to include images by artists whose work she admires -- Mel Edwards, Camille Billops, Jackson Lenochan, Builder Levy - who have used symbols and images that document (or satirize) race and social interaction.

"Never Forget" is a good way to think about Amos's Tina (Turner), Toni (Morrison), and Lena (Horne), for the prints are complex. They incorporate shaped handmade paper made at Dieu Donne Papermill in the late 70's, chine colle collaged on red and black hand-inked, shaped plates and be-sparkled "stages," printed in 2009. Ms. X is a re-imagining of John Singer Sargent's Madame X.

Two works are included from Amos' active and engaging Warm Up Series, a group of 7 monoprints featuring dancers with limbs made of deckled edge handmade papers that the artist could pose in many ways before they were collaged onto paper with fabric accents.

Fall, My Mother Was the Greatest Dancer, Color and Dream Patterns were painted at Yaddo in October 2009, and completed and bordered at Emma's studio in November - December. Layered and thoughtful, we hope they receive your close attention. There is something for everyone in these pieces.

Emma Amos is a Skowhegan Governor, a newly-retired Professor/Chair at Rutgers' Mason Gross School of the Arts, a former editor of Heresies Magazine and was featured in the 2009 film premiered at MoMA in October, 09. She lectures and exhibits extensively, and is the subject of writings by bell hooks, Lisa Farrington, Richard Powell, Sharon Patton, and many other authors, articles, monographs and videos.