The large-scale drawings by Amy Myers are affixed, unframed and raw, to the wall. The works are comprised of multiple sheets of paper, the small seams throughout adding an unrefined quality to their aesthetic. Each work features an intricate mass of shapes and forms that reverberate and fuse simultaneously in pulsating, abstracted patterns. It seems that the compositions capture a moment of transformation; natural forms shown through a stylized lens, alive, arabesque.

The exhibition’s two largest pieces are featured in the front of the gallery, facing one another from opposite walls. Their forms seem to communicate, speaking through a mesmerizing dance. The drawings are vertically oriented; the one entitled “Genesis of Language, Gellman’s Dream” seems to be caught in mid-rotation, rings of white flare up like a skirt mid-twirl, a wispy tail of orange sweeps out as if caught by centrifugal force and flung off into space. The other piece, “The Ultraviolet Underground-PT1,” reflects the undulating, vertical shape of its counterpart, but while the optical weight rested in the center of “Genesis,” this piece feels bottom heavy. A dark mass pulls the composition down to the bottom of the paper; fine black transparent lines curve outwards as if bending with weight.

Beyond the front room, I found the piece “Spin Zero” hanging above the stairs. I immediately thought of a dandelion just as a gust of wind has swept away all its seeds. However, rather than portray the flower itself, it is as if Myers has stripped it down to a display of biological processes—a system caught in motion, a cycle that has been put on pause so we can examine its every aspect.

“Spin Zero” and Myers’ other works appear unfinished, but rather than seeming incomplete, they establish the sense that we are witnessing the functioning of natural mechanics, a reaction that has yet to reach completion. Each work is an abstraction on the brink—the mind works to make connections, to create a semblance of reality from the twisting curvature. There is a sense of recognition of natural forms in the works, however alien the configurations may be.

Leaving the gallery, I realized that Myers had introduced me to a new example of the glorification of process, both in medium and in subject. I felt entranced.

 

Amy Myers: Spectral Bond, Light as Spiral

McKenzie Fine Art Inc.

55 Orchard Street, New York, NY 10002

September 9 – October 11, 2015

 

Written by Madeleine Mermall

Photographs provided by the gallery and the artist.