(Above: Press Room Dyptic, by Jenny Gray)
By Randi Bjornstad
A new work by Chelsea Beaudrie, titled Drowning
With all the hyper-real and often terrible images from around the world that bombard our senses and sensibilities these days, the current exhibit at the Karin Clarke Gallery, titled The Abstract Dispatch, offers a physical and emotional respite.
The show features the work of three Eugene women artists — Chelsea Beaudrie, Zoë Cohen, and Jenny Gray — all expressing the emotions of their newest work in abstract rather than realistic form.
Chelsea Beaudrie, who grew up in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, uses a combination of vibrant colors, layered and intersected with lines and shapes — and augmented by music as she paints in her studio — to capture her reactions to experiences in her life and the world.
Zoë Cohen’s, fore-and-aft
Raised in Chicago and surrounded by its mid-century modern culture, art, and architecture, Zoë Cohen balances those striking and graphic influences in her painting with other approaches, including collage that incorporates hand-painted paper and “repurposed” books.
For her part, Jenny Gray took her arts-and-design education at San Jose State University in California, with frequent shows throughout Oregon. Her abstract paintings are collected privately as well as purchased for commercial display, and her work also has been incorporated in sets for television programs such as Mad Men and West Elm and in interior design publications. She counts among her primary influences her Northwest surroundings, including “landscape, old barns, old signs, typography, moss, the desert, paper ephemera, vintage textiles, 1950s modern design and art.”
The Abstract Dispatch
When: Through May 14, 2022
Where: Karin Clarke Gallery, 760 Willamette St., Eugene
Hours: Noon to 5:30 Wednesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday
Information: 541-684-7963 or karinclarkegallery.com
