artform
Keltie Ferris’s Intimate Body Prints THE ARTIST PREMIERES HER NEW SERIES OF INTIMATE NUDE AND CLOTHED BODY PRINTS AT MITCHELL-INNES & NASH.
M
\A\R\C\H, an exhibition of Keltie Ferris’s continuing series of body prints, will be presented by Mitchell-Innes & Nash at the gallery’s Madison Avenue location from March 29 to May 6. M\A\R\C\H will be Ferris’ third solo show with MitchellInnes & Nash, a gallery that focuses on contemporary art. Ferris’ body print series began during an art residency in 2013, when she switched from her famous abstract spray-painted canvases to a more intimate medium. The body prints offer a chance for the artist to connect physically with her work. She paints her body in oil, whether clothed or nude, and presses herself against paper before covering the impression with a powdered pigment. The end print resembles a fragmented photograph or photocopy, which explores the literal relationship between Ferris and her impressions. Ferris’ layered body prints also display a powerful perceptual depth. The imprints float in hazy compositions that suggest the shadow or memory of the artist, literally and figuratively. As no two prints are exactly the same, each work represents a
104 | MetMagNY.com | 25AMagazine.com
BY SARAH SULLIVAN
multitude of forms. Displayed together, the impressions present individual facets of the artist’s identity, both autonomous and dependent. The artist calls into question the notion of seriality and the existence of a true carbon copy. Prior to her body print series, Ferris was known for her mostly large-scale canvases covered with layers of spray paint and hand-painted geometric fields. Characterized by a continuously expanding investigation into painting, her practice considers a multi-planar site for constructed light and shifting space. In her ongoing series of body prints, Ferris uses her own body like a brush, covering it with natural oils and pigments and pressing it against a canvas to literalize the relationship of an artist’s identity to the work that he or she produces. Ferris was born in Kentucky in 1977 and currently lives and works in Brooklyn. She graduated with a B.F.A. from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and an M.F.A from the Yale University School of Art in 2006. Recent solo exhibitions include Body Prints and Paintings at the University Art Museum at SUNY Albany in New York (2016); Paintings and Body Prints at Mitchell-Innes & Nash
in New York (2015); Keltie Ferris: Doomsday Boogie at the Santa Monica Museum of Art in Los Angeles (2014); Body Prints at Chapter NY in New York (2014); and Man Eaters at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City (2009-2010). Her works have been included in group exhibitions at institutions including the Saatchi Gallery in London (2014); Contemporary Arts Museum Houston in Texas (2014); American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York (2014); Brooklyn Museum in New York (2012); Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art in Indianapolis (2010); and The Kitchen in New York (2009). She was recently awarded the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award in Painting by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Mitchell-Innes & Nash was founded by Lucy MitchellInnes and David Nash, who previously headed the worldwide Contemporary and Impressionist & Modern Art divisions of Sotheby’s, Mitchell-Innes & Nash places exemplary contemporary artists within a historical context, revealing a continuity of ideas and aesthetic virtuosity from the modern era through the present day.