https://twocoatsofpaint.com/2024/08/chromatic-propulsion-at-frosch-co.html
“Out of the Blue,” Frosch & Co., 34 East Broadway, New York, NY. Through August 24, 2024. Artists: Sharon Butler, Barbara Friedman, Bruno Jakob, Jerry Kearns, Edie Nadelhaft, Fran Shalom, Vicki Sher, Judith Simonian, Fedele Spadafora, Yanik Wagner, Hans Witschi, Becky Yazdan.
"The title of Fran Shalom's new solo exhibition "Taking the Backward Step" at Kathryn Markel Gallery, in Chelsea comes from a 13th century Japanese Zen master. The phrase is about the need to be in the "moment" when it comes to perception.
Shalom's abstract paintings consist of pared-down, simplified shapes. They call to mind other artists who have worked in this vein-from Jean Arp and Ellsworth Kelly to Myron Stout, Paul Feeley, and Chuck Webster. Yet Shalom's work, which deals with shape, line, texture, and color, feels different. Stout's paintings, for instance, are more deliberately studied and not referential. Shalom's work is livelier and more colorful, while often suggesting things in the world. The phenomenon of seeing figurative elements within abstract shapes is known as "pareidolia." It's possible to read "Right as Rain" (2023) as a profile of a woman's face, or "Sashay" (2023) might make a viewer think of tor a chicken as it walks. Yet, as the show's title suggests, the perceptual goal is to be able to see abstract forms without preconception. Other works remain resolutely abstract, even if we might need to use familiar objects to describe them, such as "Out on a Limb" (2023), in which a blue cup-like shape sits atop six legs that form a base and a thin red line appears to press down from the top. Shalom is a process-oriented painter who doesn't preplan her work, but instead relies on trial and error. As she explains, "I generally start with a few brush marks, a basic shape or gesture and then proceed to move things around, adding, subtracting, and adding color-a lot of play is involved, a lot of wiping off paint and painting over and redoing shapes." As a true improviser, this demands that Shalom herself remain attentive to the moment, which is what gives her work its buoyancy and spark." – JJ Murphy, Dagcentral 2023.
"Anyone who knows Fran's work will recognize an intelligent and joyful inclusivity that welcomes the viewer into a space of play where the exacting curve and the handmade curve, the perfectly straight line and the minor embellishment, the smoothly scraped surface and the smallest cultivated glitch are all welcomed into a collective visual feast. I can't help smiling as I move through the gallery feeling that I am being winked at. Sometimes off kilter, the work looks almost minimalist from a distance. And yet as you move up closer there is a sense of "look what I can do" that feels more like "look what we can get away with". I love this feeling of mischievousness!" – Chris Carabadi on Fran Shalom: Taking the Backward Step, Kathryn Markel Gallery
"Shalom makes slow, slyly humorous metaphysical paintings of disarming, quiet- seeming intensity that punch above their deceptive initial weight. Despite the abstractness of her images, she imbues these quirky forms with a feeling of being subjected to the vicissitudes of life." – David Cohen, 1 Gap Exhibition, NYC