Roberta Gentry: We need mirrors
OCTOBER 24 - DECEMBER 20, 2020
CLICK HERE FOR EXHIBITION CHECKLIST/PRESS RELEASE
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We have no need of other worlds. We need mirrors. We don't know what to do with other worlds. -- Stanisław Lem
WE NEED MIRRORS, AN EXHIBITION OF WORKS BY ROBERTA GENTRY
LADIES’ ROOM is pleased to announce Roberta Gentry: We Need Mirrors, opening October 24, 2020 on ladiesroomla.org. With a title derived from Stanisław Lem’s 1961 sci-fi novel Solaris, the solo exhibition features the artist’s recent “structure paintings,” a series of alluring abstract compositions of crevices, grids, and portals. Gentry sees her works as “figures, structures, containers, and entrances. An opening cannot exist without an enclosure, and [these works] come from the tendency to create edges and boundaries where they didn’t exist before. Like the human body, they are bilaterally symmetrical, and have an organizational relationship to the body that observes them.”
Roberta Gentry’s visual lexicon is enigmatic yet familiar as the artist nimbly plays with anthropomorphism, history, and the unknown in her sumptuously mannered tableaux. Employing a rigorous approach to her work reminiscent of Agnes Martin’s painting practice and philosophy, she seeks both order and humanity in her fastidious paintings while also entering other dimensions. Having created her own geometric language in graduate school, her smooth surfaces are richly layered and her palette is soothing and evocative. Forms fluidly morph and seem to echo an anachronistic variety of sources -- art deco architecture, 80’s album cover art, or projections from a utopian future.
Gentry’s studio is neat. Paint tubes and bottles precisely arranged by color, brushes meticulously cleaned and organized, little Moleskin graph paper books arranged in perfectly gridded stacks. Viewers observe a sense of devotion that goes beyond the studio. She states, “I guide my work with rhythms: solid vs. empty, quiet vs. noise, light vs. dark. They are figurative but also mechanical, hard edged, and yet the segments are textured and soft. The paintings are built up slowly, thin skins of color layered piece by piece over the skeleton of a grid, until the figure emerges and separates itself. They are finished when there’s nothing else needed, and a kind of satisfying balance has been achieved.”
Roberta Gentry: We Need Mirrors is open BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. PLEASE CONTACT: INFO@LADIESROOMLA.ORG or TEXT: 310.447.8021 FOR APPOINTMENTS.
LADIES’ ROOM is located in the historic Bendix Building, a nexus for artist studios, galleries, and performance spaces in downtown Los Angeles. We encourage you to sign up on our mailing list to receive updates on our programming, and follow us on Instagram. For more information, please visit our FAQ page.
Meet The Artist
ROBERTA GENTRY (b. 1984, Safford, AZ.) earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2-Dimensional Studies from the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, and a Master of Fine Arts in painting from State University of New York, Albany, NY. She has had solo exhibitions at Elephant Art Space, Los Angeles, CA; Joyce Goldstein Gallery, Chatham, NY; and Terra Nova Gallery, Troy, NY. Recent group exhibitions include Los Angeles Mission College, Sylmar, CA; Kronenboden, Berlin; QiPO 01, QiPO Art Fair, Mexico City, MX; The Front, New Orleans, LA; Icosa Collective, Austin, TX; Durden and Ray, Los Angeles, CA; Brand Art Center, Glendale, CA; and Monte Vista Projects, Los Angeles, CA. Her work has been written about in the LA Times, Maake Magazine, Diversions LA, Fabrik Magazine, and Shoutout LA. Gentry lives and works in Los Angeles.