Dualities: Sculptures by Vivien Abrams Collens
On view from October 2021 through January 2022. Hours by appointment only.
Please call us at 216-220-9774 or send us an email.
Since relocating to our more intimate gallery setting the question we've asked ourselves is 'how can we support/showcase every art form' in the same capacity that we did with our previous gallery space? Those that have attended our shows know that we try to be as innovative as possible in our presentations - be it changing the wall/floor color, unique lighting, and even going so far as to erect new walls or hanging apparatuses.
In teaming up with Christopher Richards for our latest sculpture show we knew that there were space/height limitations. Thankfully, he guided us to an artist that fit the bill. Maria Neil Art Project is happy to exhibit the colorful and whimsical sculptures of Vivien Abrams Collens!
Richards has much to say about this momentous exhibition:
"The work of Vivien Abrams Collens has consistently made statements on the subversion of art materials. In this group of works, she questions the role of masculinity and femininity based on materials, process, subject, and pigment. While welding and metal work is often seen as a masculine profession, her subjects of flowers and trees recall feminine coded activities of gardening and floral arranging. These dualities come head-to-head with one another in an age where gender identity and roles are regularly being expanded and redefined."
On view from October 2021 through January 2022, the viewer will have the opportunity to get up close and personal with miniature studies, aluminum bouquets, rambling samplers of welded shapes, and other visually stimulating dimensional objects.
Check out what everyone is talking about via the links below!
Press:
Collective Arts Network Journal - 'Welcome Back, Vivien'
On view from October 2021 through January 2022. Hours by appointment only.
Please call us at 216-220-9774 or send us an email.
Since relocating to our more intimate gallery setting the question we've asked ourselves is 'how can we support/showcase every art form' in the same capacity that we did with our previous gallery space? Those that have attended our shows know that we try to be as innovative as possible in our presentations - be it changing the wall/floor color, unique lighting, and even going so far as to erect new walls or hanging apparatuses.
In teaming up with Christopher Richards for our latest sculpture show we knew that there were space/height limitations. Thankfully, he guided us to an artist that fit the bill. Maria Neil Art Project is happy to exhibit the colorful and whimsical sculptures of Vivien Abrams Collens!
Richards has much to say about this momentous exhibition:
"The work of Vivien Abrams Collens has consistently made statements on the subversion of art materials. In this group of works, she questions the role of masculinity and femininity based on materials, process, subject, and pigment. While welding and metal work is often seen as a masculine profession, her subjects of flowers and trees recall feminine coded activities of gardening and floral arranging. These dualities come head-to-head with one another in an age where gender identity and roles are regularly being expanded and redefined."
On view from October 2021 through January 2022, the viewer will have the opportunity to get up close and personal with miniature studies, aluminum bouquets, rambling samplers of welded shapes, and other visually stimulating dimensional objects.
Check out what everyone is talking about via the links below!
Press:
Collective Arts Network Journal - 'Welcome Back, Vivien'
Vivien Abrams Collens - in her studio
About the Artist:
Vivien Abrams Collens is a mid-career abstract artist born in Cleveland, Ohio. Her current practice includes site specific installations, sculpture and painting. After graduating with a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, she studied in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, for two year; receiving an MFA from Institute Allende.
After graduation, she felt out of touch with art being done by her peers, and decided to return to the United States. Renting a studio in Cleveland, she took jobs at the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Institute of Art. In 1977, after achieving regional recognition for her work with relief wall constructions and shaped/constructed painting installations, she moved to New York City. Collens' career flourished - receiving numerous fellowships, including Yaddo and MacDowell. Her early NYC works (signed Vivien Abrams) were widely shown in the City and elsewhere in the 70's and 80's and can now be found in museum and corporate collections.
She married in 1985, had two children and took her husband's surname. During the following years of family responsibility, Collens continued her studio practice but agreed to few exhibition opportunities.
In 2015 Collens had a NYC solo exhibition, “Urban Studies and City Blocks, “at the Rockefeller Center gallery of Gensler architects. City Blocks, her first freestanding sculptures, were exhibited with her Urban Studies paintings from the past few years. With an irreverent playful approach, Collens then began developing larger sculptures focusing on urban architecture and energy. These led to a dialogue with the environment and public sculpture. In 2017 Collens had a residency at Salem Art Works, where she learned to weld. Since then she has had numerous installations of her large scale public sculptures.
You can learn more about Vivien's sculpture, paintings, and works on paper via her website.
Vivien Abrams Collens is a mid-career abstract artist born in Cleveland, Ohio. Her current practice includes site specific installations, sculpture and painting. After graduating with a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, she studied in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, for two year; receiving an MFA from Institute Allende.
After graduation, she felt out of touch with art being done by her peers, and decided to return to the United States. Renting a studio in Cleveland, she took jobs at the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Institute of Art. In 1977, after achieving regional recognition for her work with relief wall constructions and shaped/constructed painting installations, she moved to New York City. Collens' career flourished - receiving numerous fellowships, including Yaddo and MacDowell. Her early NYC works (signed Vivien Abrams) were widely shown in the City and elsewhere in the 70's and 80's and can now be found in museum and corporate collections.
She married in 1985, had two children and took her husband's surname. During the following years of family responsibility, Collens continued her studio practice but agreed to few exhibition opportunities.
In 2015 Collens had a NYC solo exhibition, “Urban Studies and City Blocks, “at the Rockefeller Center gallery of Gensler architects. City Blocks, her first freestanding sculptures, were exhibited with her Urban Studies paintings from the past few years. With an irreverent playful approach, Collens then began developing larger sculptures focusing on urban architecture and energy. These led to a dialogue with the environment and public sculpture. In 2017 Collens had a residency at Salem Art Works, where she learned to weld. Since then she has had numerous installations of her large scale public sculptures.
You can learn more about Vivien's sculpture, paintings, and works on paper via her website.
About the Curator:
Christopher L. Richards, proprietor of Context Fine Art,
focuses on connecting threads of artistic developments
from the late 19th century to today. By examining how
artistic style and subject tie the present and the past
together, Richards gives insight through art on how topics
such as feminism, perception, psychology, and competing
ideologies are still being played out in contemporary society.
Specializing in regional art, Richards has curated
exhibitions and written groundbreaking essays in catalogues
on the Pop portraits of Phyllis Sloane, Post-painterly
Abstraction in Northeast Ohio, and the Abstract
Expressionist paintings of James Johnson. Richards has also
curated Sonata Project exhibitions exploring concepts of
synesthesia and universal versus individual interpretations.
Context Fine Art offers independent art services from
the top down in curation, arts writing, photography, and
graphic design. With over 10 years in the industry, Richards
has worked in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors,
including ARTneo: The Museum of Northeast Ohio Art,
Rachel Davis Fine Arts, and WOLFS Gallery. He is a regular
contributor to CAN Journal, presenting thoughtful
exhibition reviews. He holds a MA in Art History from Kent
State University and a BA in Art and Design from LaGrange
College.
Christopher L. Richards, proprietor of Context Fine Art,
focuses on connecting threads of artistic developments
from the late 19th century to today. By examining how
artistic style and subject tie the present and the past
together, Richards gives insight through art on how topics
such as feminism, perception, psychology, and competing
ideologies are still being played out in contemporary society.
Specializing in regional art, Richards has curated
exhibitions and written groundbreaking essays in catalogues
on the Pop portraits of Phyllis Sloane, Post-painterly
Abstraction in Northeast Ohio, and the Abstract
Expressionist paintings of James Johnson. Richards has also
curated Sonata Project exhibitions exploring concepts of
synesthesia and universal versus individual interpretations.
Context Fine Art offers independent art services from
the top down in curation, arts writing, photography, and
graphic design. With over 10 years in the industry, Richards
has worked in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors,
including ARTneo: The Museum of Northeast Ohio Art,
Rachel Davis Fine Arts, and WOLFS Gallery. He is a regular
contributor to CAN Journal, presenting thoughtful
exhibition reviews. He holds a MA in Art History from Kent
State University and a BA in Art and Design from LaGrange
College.
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