Opening May 7th...

I am very excited to annouce our next show, "Behind the Curtain", an exhibition of new works by Chloë Feldman Emison, featuring three series of images...

Harlequin performers stand rather disconsolately in front of curtains with massive, sometimes surreal clasps holding them shut.

In a second series, girls sail over landscapes dotted by toy villages, held aloft by billowing red sheets.

And in the third, sad, sagging humans in simple grey shifts sprout wings, only to find themselves in chains.

Over forty images are included, ranging from 10 x 8" to 19 x 14" (framed).

"If the task of an artist today is to find an alternative to, on the one hand, the showmanship of a Saatchi artist, and on the other hand, the endless stream of pleasant but unchallenging pictures, watercolor is a daring medium to choose. These works on paper, with their relatively small scale, lend themselves to close looking rather than attempting the bold, big presence of much of modern art. Some of the images impinge on the naive; they feature girls with messy hair and quaint if slightly bizarre clothing. They may remind the viewer at times of children's book illustration. Yet in many cases their themes are quite adult: fear, frustration, pain." (Patricia Emison, Professor of Art History at the University of New Hampshire)

For many years Chloë was a self-taught artist, although she grew up in the company of artists at the University of New Hampshire and is now majoring in Fine Art at Williams College. She had her first solo show at age 16, and has always favored watercolor or pen and ink. In the fall of 2009, she was was awarded Best Mixed Media at the Cambridge Art Association by Joseph Ketner II of Emerson College.

"Behind the Curtain" opens May 7th, with an opening reception from 5-8pm in conjunction with the 1st Friday Gallery Walk.