https://summerwheat.com Web Thu, 15 May 2025 16:00:15 +0000 https://summerwheat.com en https://summerwheat.com/Sun-Up-Sun-Down-2025 Thu, 15 May 2025 16:00:15 +0000 Web https://summerwheat.com/Sun-Up-Sun-Down-2025 SUMMER WHEAT EXHIBITIONS&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;WORK&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;ABOUT Sun Up, Sun Down, 2025Zidoun Bossuyt, Paris, France <img width="1980" height="1379" width_o="1980" height_o="1379" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ba22f7cc4397b7558a7b232ab601e759d5c489753d1a1594a4596f79cde86f97/0L1A1576.jpg" data-mid="233248748" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ba22f7cc4397b7558a7b232ab601e759d5c489753d1a1594a4596f79cde86f97/0L1A1576.jpg" /> <img width="1980" height="1320" width_o="1980" height_o="1320" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1f30fb311fe7690f4ef76431bd1da9fe64f467c75cf1915aa557704d143def35/0L1A0090.jpg" data-mid="233248745" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1f30fb311fe7690f4ef76431bd1da9fe64f467c75cf1915aa557704d143def35/0L1A0090.jpg" /> <img width="1980" height="1320" width_o="1980" height_o="1320" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5a6ded9d270727448412f8c041e56fd8e4843ebc6d2f7dff033865617c9fd3a9/0L1A0101.jpg" data-mid="233248746" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5a6ded9d270727448412f8c041e56fd8e4843ebc6d2f7dff033865617c9fd3a9/0L1A0101.jpg" /> <img width="1980" height="1399" width_o="1980" height_o="1399" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e2cf7706f14cc2691f15c4d6dcec1561a485fca2062b9fbf35a77dd7b26e9b0b/0L1A0088.jpg" data-mid="233248744" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e2cf7706f14cc2691f15c4d6dcec1561a485fca2062b9fbf35a77dd7b26e9b0b/0L1A0088.jpg" /> <img width="1980" height="1320" width_o="1980" height_o="1320" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ffa3200e3d66cf6c4e940ceecff532a26f5287eb4d49b91df10d835284cfd456/0L1A0085.jpg" data-mid="233248743" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ffa3200e3d66cf6c4e940ceecff532a26f5287eb4d49b91df10d835284cfd456/0L1A0085.jpg" /> <img width="1980" height="1320" width_o="1980" height_o="1320" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6233b15433483006408ff491f3ce9ef70c1aba9960a5b09563d0d4c9f831b30b/0L1A0081.jpg" data-mid="233248742" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6233b15433483006408ff491f3ce9ef70c1aba9960a5b09563d0d4c9f831b30b/0L1A0081.jpg" /> Link to Exhibition Rooted in the nostalgia of carefree summer days, “Sun Up, Sun Down” blends diurnal and nocturnal scenes, where female horseback riders chase butterflies beneath both the sun and the full moon, while starry skies transform into jewel-like constellations and daytime moments capture the gathering of rain pearls. Humorous touches, such as bees buzzing around shoes on a bed of flowers, add whimsy, while elements of water and air flow throughout. This presentation echoes childhood pastimes—like chasing butterflies or catching frogs—and symbolizes the struggle to maintain focus in a world overwhelmed by digital overstimulation. Like butterflies slipping through a net, our attention splinters under the relentless pull of social media, evoking a sense of endless pursuit. Through dynamic compositions and vibrant hues, Wheat captures the delicate balance between playfulness and distraction, transforming fleeting moments into layered, poetic visual narratives.&nbsp; https://summerwheat.com/Safety-Net-2025 Tue, 14 Jan 2025 17:56:12 +0000 Web https://summerwheat.com/Safety-Net-2025 SUMMER WHEAT EXHIBITIONS&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;WORK&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;ABOUT Safety Net, 2025Andrew Reed, Miami, FL <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d77088f611bae0e9c0955ab56980c0062b149f2c908195b0403936fe0b157a94/Summer-Wheat_Safety-Net_Installation-5_Photography-courtesy-of-Zachary-Balber.jpg" data-mid="224750327" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d77088f611bae0e9c0955ab56980c0062b149f2c908195b0403936fe0b157a94/Summer-Wheat_Safety-Net_Installation-5_Photography-courtesy-of-Zachary-Balber.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4395def6e7fa6fd3d5e3dbfe32e342dd64680a419ad0ba6cce9a774eda68e731/Summer-Wheat_Safety-Net_Installation-7_Photography-courtesy-of-Zachary-Balber.jpg" data-mid="224750328" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4395def6e7fa6fd3d5e3dbfe32e342dd64680a419ad0ba6cce9a774eda68e731/Summer-Wheat_Safety-Net_Installation-7_Photography-courtesy-of-Zachary-Balber.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2c304a0d6d03ac76d063939c8e87f6f3e88757876b895dc5c9db0f486c28cc44/Summer-Wheat_Safety-Net_Installation-1_Photography-courtesy-of-Zachary-Balber.jpg" data-mid="224750323" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2c304a0d6d03ac76d063939c8e87f6f3e88757876b895dc5c9db0f486c28cc44/Summer-Wheat_Safety-Net_Installation-1_Photography-courtesy-of-Zachary-Balber.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2199c0cf592c8e702b028ce806046943a4713c37621403c19676fd297d46b0c3/Summer-Wheat_Safety-Net_Installation-11_Photography-courtesy-of-Zachary-Balber.jpg" data-mid="224750332" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2199c0cf592c8e702b028ce806046943a4713c37621403c19676fd297d46b0c3/Summer-Wheat_Safety-Net_Installation-11_Photography-courtesy-of-Zachary-Balber.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4b30601e3c9b8e2ba7427fdf3609db39537ced558e7f85a5d680a4af74837695/Summer-Wheat_Safety-Net_Installation-4_Photography-courtesy-of-Zachary-Balber.jpg" data-mid="224750326" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4b30601e3c9b8e2ba7427fdf3609db39537ced558e7f85a5d680a4af74837695/Summer-Wheat_Safety-Net_Installation-4_Photography-courtesy-of-Zachary-Balber.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/00ebc3a37e7886eb28cc242ce89bce427dfdedee8cd9757153e18c4611588608/Summer-Wheat_Safety-Net_Installation-3_Photography-courtesy-of-Zachary-Balber.jpg" data-mid="224750325" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/00ebc3a37e7886eb28cc242ce89bce427dfdedee8cd9757153e18c4611588608/Summer-Wheat_Safety-Net_Installation-3_Photography-courtesy-of-Zachary-Balber.jpg" /> Link to Exhibition Images by&nbsp;Zachary Balber “Safety Net” suggests a guard rail against catastrophe; a final defense barrier. However, these nets are porous and their contents seem to be flying away or on the verge of escape. In Summer Wheat’s works, the net is trying to capture and hold still the ephemeral butterfly or enforce boundaries and define something constantly on the move or changing. In several works in Safety Net, the net’s smaller proportion in the composition shows its visual vulnerability over a dense, cluttered background filled with texture and objects. The net could symbolize hope and the wish to catch something desirable or strive to achieve an outcome. The drawings for this show were conceived prior to the November 2024 presidential election, but they reference this tense time with the themes of tenuous borders, a lack of security, and hope for the future. There is a sense of the unresolved in these suspended actions, and the net becomes a symbol showing the beautiful fragility of hope.A continuation on Wheat’s recent garden theme, some of these paintings depict outdoor scenes with only glimpses of a female figure rather than the artist’s singular, totemic paintings of women. A pair of high-heeled shoes, taken from eBay listings of Barbie accessories, is sometimes all we see of the protagonists as they sweep their nets to collect what they can. Whimsical summer vacation activities like catching butterflies and frogs are the leisure activities of Wheat’s choice.In the materiality of her work, with the acrylic extrusions ‘pulled’ through the mesh similarly to threads of textile being pulled through a weave, Wheat expounds upon the language – and lineage – of tapestry. The world-building laden in the artist’s oeuvre embodies the dramatic scenes of Medieval and Renaissance tapestries, while the intricately patterned backdrops recall modernist abstractions. Wheat’s flattening of the picture plane calls to mind the treatment of the Bayeaux Tapestry, while the playful ‘pursuit’ amidst lush foliage ties to The Hunt of the Unicorn cycle (c. 1495-1505) found in The Metropolitan Museum’s collection. That said, Wheat continues this discourse on her terms, in her own proprietary technique. In addition to this pulling through of vibrant acrylic paint through wire mesh, Wheat paints directly onto the heavily impastoed surfaces and applies further embellishments. She consequently engages with her canvas at a variety of vantages – vertically and horizontally, with the front and the verso – to crystallize her compositionally dynamic colors and forms.In paintings like Beautiful Frogs and Caught, a figure reaches to catch frogs while they jump left and right. Amphibians inhabit both wet and dry environments, symbolizing their versatility and skill at adapting to different situations. In Beautiful Frogs, the many playful expressions of each animal represent shifting emotion. Some frogs seem eager to jump inside the net, while others just stare at it like different feelings surfacing in one’s consciousness. Caught has a masterful combination of Wheat’s textures achieved by extruding acrylic through mesh. The thicker squiggly lines of the background visually vibrate against the smooth mustard yellow backdrop and the deep black frog in a psychedelic push and pull between figure and ground.In Sunflower Butterfly and Strawberry Butterfly, the net pattern merges with the butterfly’s wings as part of its hallucinogenic design. This repeated composition shows a figure grasping a butterfly by the wings as though the butterfly is large, powerful, and sturdy. The hypnosis of the lines draws one into the eyes which stare back with pure focus. The vibration of the color and texture repeated in the background makes these works electric, with surging energy the way a flower exudes color in the sun.In Stuffy Faucet a woman controls what can be seen as a threatening predator, but the humorous title implies the snake makes a lousy watering can for her flower. Is it watering poison from its fangs? Is the snake spitting? Comedy teeters on the ominous. This limbo speaks to Wheat’s willingness to allow her audience to interpret her scenes, in turn provoking insight into their own psyche.Catching Butterflies and Catching Thoughts picture the frenetic attempt at focusing during the present age of social media and fragmented distraction. Being pulled in different directions, nets and arms crisscross the background, competing for space. In both paintings, the equal treatment of foreground and background recall the nonhierarchical treatment of figures and their settings in many folk art compositions. Wheat is inspired by the simplification of skilled artisans whose crafts may not be recognized at a high level in the fine art world, but from whom Wheat draws inspiration.Lost is a quiet night meditation. A pair of women’s shoes are removed to wander in luscious nature without a destination in mind. The discarded footwear signifies abandoning gender roles and letting go of the ‘boss lady’ mentality to reconnect with one’s inner self.The show is roughly split in half between a warm day and a cool night color palette. The two halves merge into the painting Cycles. This work is an updated composition from prior ‘fountain’ series with a stack of figures and animals against a transitional night and day sky. The split time zone is a reference to the artist’s frequent travel, but also a post-election reminder of the cyclical nature of our world. The varied weather conditions signal inevitable change, and Wheat urges us to remember that nothing is permanent. https://summerwheat.com/Dream-Garden Wed, 23 Oct 2024 08:04:20 +0000 Web https://summerwheat.com/Dream-Garden SUMMER WHEAT EXHIBITIONS&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;WORK&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;ABOUT Dream Garden, 2024Zidoun Bossuyt, Luxembourg <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/64d0cb873071d3b22ff3267025ecb366467104f1542b86585af39a0b5d918917/summer-wheat-hd-2.jpg" data-mid="220165760" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/64d0cb873071d3b22ff3267025ecb366467104f1542b86585af39a0b5d918917/summer-wheat-hd-2.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/93242afb4fa379a4bc848de503d4f5b869277f3a4d99baf4a0dc75832e47ee09/summer-wheat-hd-1.jpg" data-mid="220165758" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/93242afb4fa379a4bc848de503d4f5b869277f3a4d99baf4a0dc75832e47ee09/summer-wheat-hd-1.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/49bf4e113b1b8f5b4ca36686477dd762189f7a4f272da4a3fc67349f0db76df6/summer-wheat-hd-3.jpg" data-mid="220165761" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/49bf4e113b1b8f5b4ca36686477dd762189f7a4f272da4a3fc67349f0db76df6/summer-wheat-hd-3.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/95d25497d1279afdca06a99039ccf6c99875d82c49c44e5de15fea69e11db37b/summer-wheat-hd-7.jpg" data-mid="220165770" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/95d25497d1279afdca06a99039ccf6c99875d82c49c44e5de15fea69e11db37b/summer-wheat-hd-7.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/581e70c05b71e8e78aee4f8a80c15e34f6b53c316714498a0ae5db3c0d72018e/summer-wheat-hd-4.jpg" data-mid="220165765" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/581e70c05b71e8e78aee4f8a80c15e34f6b53c316714498a0ae5db3c0d72018e/summer-wheat-hd-4.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7d9259de7e37b470398de6e8a62d63236898ee28920efc6c85e2444502d75c99/summer-wheat-hd-10.jpg" data-mid="220165774" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7d9259de7e37b470398de6e8a62d63236898ee28920efc6c85e2444502d75c99/summer-wheat-hd-10.jpg" /> Link to Exhibition After three successful solo exhibitions with Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery across Paris and Dubai, we are pleased to announce the return of Summer Wheat in Luxembourg. Dream Garden will open on 12 October and will be on view through 30 November 2024. Summer Wheat is known for her vibrant paintings, multifaceted sculptures, and immersive installations that weave together the history of materiality, figuration, and abstraction in both fine art and craft milieus. Each series engages individual and collective human experiences drawn from historical and contemporary sources, mediated through a variety of references ranging from ancient art and medieval tapestries, to etchings from the Renaissance, to modernist abstractions. Using a tongue-in-cheek type of humor inspired by comic strips, Wheat subverts conventional hierarchical structures and stereotypes to create more expansive depictions of daily life throughout history. A signature aspect of Wheat’s work is her expressive use of color and unique method of building a painting, which integrates various tools, from her fingers, to syringes, to plastic scrapers, to cake decorating paraphernalia. Using vibrant, almost fluorescent colors of acrylic paint, she combines multiple physical techniques—pushing paint through wire mesh, painting directly onto a heavily impastoed surface, or applying select embellishments— that require her to move around her canvas, working both vertically and horizontally, on the front and the back of each piece. The result is tactile, vivid work that engages process, form, and narrative equally, creating layered, non-linear compositions that offer alternative versions of history, mythology, and folklore. The works in Dream Garden depict inside domestic space and even deeper imagined spaces of the subconscious or spiritual world. Wheat’s recent work depicts night and day garden scenes with bright op art color and pattern, but these are internal gardens, places for ideas and feelings to grow and flourish. The show describes psychological or cultural boundaries with a garden fence, a net, or flowerpot. There is contained nature, and freedom expressed within imaginary nature scenes. Inner wells of emotion are coupled with outward cries of expression. Figures are still participating in partnership with nature, but Wheat is thinking of the garden as a point where nature is curated by human organization or intervention. The title Dream Garden came while reworking a drawing of a figure’s shoes. The shoes, standing still among a swarm of bees clinging to the queen, became slippers. Big flowers with sparkling silver veins adorn the slipper’s toe as they step through psychedelic swirls. The unseen figure is sleepwalking in a dream state through a vibrant inner world. The complementary color palette vibrates in the swirling ground, which could be a carpet, or molten ground dotted with blades of grass. In her practice, Wheat is influenced by both spiritual and art historical forerunners, citing de Vinci, Rembrandt (Dutch, 1606–1669), Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917), and Andy Warhol (American, 1928–1987), and concepts connected to internal, external, and cosmic space, mirroring, and nature. https://summerwheat.com/Fertile-Ground-2024 Tue, 27 Feb 2024 16:56:37 +0000 Web https://summerwheat.com/Fertile-Ground-2024 SUMMER WHEAT EXHIBITIONS&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;WORK&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;ABOUT Fertile Ground, 2024Nazarian / Curcio, Los Angeles, CA <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4ee60c6a9484e4769e9a2b11c74dfb613540f46bcea239bbf3ba36a4827a3843/Summer-Wheat_Fertile-Ground-_Nazarian-_-Curcio_6.jpg" data-mid="205584613" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4ee60c6a9484e4769e9a2b11c74dfb613540f46bcea239bbf3ba36a4827a3843/Summer-Wheat_Fertile-Ground-_Nazarian-_-Curcio_6.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c32740debe0c32e7698cafd6976606b1b7239012d31e7bc519b3d29950a98d22/Summer-Wheat_Fertile-Ground-_Nazarian-_-Curcio_2.jpg" data-mid="205584606" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c32740debe0c32e7698cafd6976606b1b7239012d31e7bc519b3d29950a98d22/Summer-Wheat_Fertile-Ground-_Nazarian-_-Curcio_2.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9e94cdba2e55bfa90348175a7e117e0dca181c37d4fb25053b0c6b11d2024e5c/Summer-Wheat_Fertile-Ground-_Nazarian-_-Curcio_8.jpg" data-mid="205584615" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9e94cdba2e55bfa90348175a7e117e0dca181c37d4fb25053b0c6b11d2024e5c/Summer-Wheat_Fertile-Ground-_Nazarian-_-Curcio_8.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e3fe2b0ca2d034e7b8dac8f677a285d235c326ebf4ed23166ecc6abf9f0a06b2/Summer-Wheat_Fertile-Ground-_Nazarian-_-Curcio_9.jpg" data-mid="205584619" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e3fe2b0ca2d034e7b8dac8f677a285d235c326ebf4ed23166ecc6abf9f0a06b2/Summer-Wheat_Fertile-Ground-_Nazarian-_-Curcio_9.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/568af91a962c0a6a3b6c18649fe7a2e506978c476f004fa5d214dd1fab85403f/Summer-Wheat_Fertile-Ground-_Nazarian-_-Curcio_16.jpg" data-mid="205584611" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/568af91a962c0a6a3b6c18649fe7a2e506978c476f004fa5d214dd1fab85403f/Summer-Wheat_Fertile-Ground-_Nazarian-_-Curcio_16.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/64865fb413bb06cd1312d86101d874f33a08aad08d028562159b75a086c3e7f7/Summer-Wheat_Fertile-Ground-_Nazarian-_-Curcio_18.jpg" data-mid="205584617" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/64865fb413bb06cd1312d86101d874f33a08aad08d028562159b75a086c3e7f7/Summer-Wheat_Fertile-Ground-_Nazarian-_-Curcio_18.jpg" /> Link to Exhibition Nazarian / Curcio is pleased to announce Fertile Ground, by Brooklyn-based artist Summer Wheat. This will be the artist’s third solo exhibition with the gallery. Set in a mythical and lush gardenscape, the paintings and sculptures in this exhibition continue the artist’s longstanding interest in depictions of labor and leisure, especially those that have been historically gendered. Fertile Ground imagines &nbsp;a utopian world where women are in control, having formed a community of independent caretakers that tend to the land and the creatures that populate it, receiving nourishment in turn. The works in Fertile Ground blend recurring motifs from the artist’s past exhibitions, including expansive night gardens, fountains, and beekeepers, each of which represents &nbsp;a symbiotic relationship between Wheat’s figures and the spaces that they occupy. Known for their tactility and texture, Wheat’s paintings reside somewhere between painting and sculpture, while also borrowing from the rich—and often gendered—history of fibers and textiles. At first look, they appear to be beaded or woven, but closer inspection reveals that the works are made by pushing paint through the openings of a fine wire, aluminum mesh using fingers, palette scrapers, syringes and pastry piping bags to create a tactile and vivid surface that engages process, form, and narrative. In several of the new paintings, the viewer encounters women spewing water from their mouth, eyes, and ears onto a saturated ground. These figures act as a vessel, containing a life-sustaining material and offering their own bodies in an act of devotion to nourish the land. For Wheat, “These figures surrender as water springs from their bodies, they embrace the downpour, they seek to cultivate new relationships and to offer an essential life-giving force. They generously give back to the land that provides for them.” Fertile Ground also features three new pebble sculptures that reference ancient mosaics, some of the earliest forms of storytelling, and maintain a narrative kinship with her paintings. These sculptures offer the viewer a grounding experience—and a place to sit within the exhibition. Constructed of stone, glass, and grout, their form is based on the smooth, round contours of stones weathered and shaped by river currents. Seen together, the works in Fertile Ground employ absurdity with a sense of optimism. They offer a biting critique of historical representations of labor, while also proposing an alternative future, one that dismisses any implied hierarchy of power and position. Wheat’s works move to destabilize the boundaries of figure and ground, representation and abstraction, portrait and landscape, and fine art and craft, offering a hybrid approach to centuries-old traditions. Fertile Ground will be accompanied by a new 224 page monograph Summer Wheat: Forager published by Rizzoli Electa with essays by Dr. Jennifer Sudul Edwards, Anne Ellegood, Jennifer Krasinski, and Diedrick Brackens. https://summerwheat.com/Kiss-and-Tell-2023 Tue, 13 Jun 2023 10:45:04 +0000 Web https://summerwheat.com/Kiss-and-Tell-2023 SUMMER WHEAT EXHIBITIONS&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;WORK&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;ABOUT Kiss and Tell, 2023MUDIMA Foundation, Milan, Italy <img width="1280" height="1920" width_o="1280" height_o="1920" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a16c4c8571c9a9b3f31e19a49353137e27cf965cd991de038a64718b34ec5e03/_82A8408.jpg" data-mid="181920286" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a16c4c8571c9a9b3f31e19a49353137e27cf965cd991de038a64718b34ec5e03/_82A8408.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7aaa460a0bb0accbb0875bb4eeb0a4fdf2fbfcad88dcd6a3d795f4fa472cd5b4/_82A8410.jpg" data-mid="181920287" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7aaa460a0bb0accbb0875bb4eeb0a4fdf2fbfcad88dcd6a3d795f4fa472cd5b4/_82A8410.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c97c6309fcbbf64ff921297d8a0ac4591a1f1535f305d72d73fcfd14ecebbf4f/_82A8412.jpg" data-mid="181920288" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c97c6309fcbbf64ff921297d8a0ac4591a1f1535f305d72d73fcfd14ecebbf4f/_82A8412.jpg" /> <img width="1280" height="1920" width_o="1280" height_o="1920" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cb12ac09e69363b73edbd7eafb28563227dfd1cf3ae57ec46035a44eff105991/_82A8426.jpg" data-mid="181920297" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cb12ac09e69363b73edbd7eafb28563227dfd1cf3ae57ec46035a44eff105991/_82A8426.jpg" /> <img width="1280" height="1920" width_o="1280" height_o="1920" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e65df4f9aa840cd7c7e77de9b3799000d7dcf51da6aac46e535c82ed39edaf09/_82A8421.jpg" data-mid="181920294" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e65df4f9aa840cd7c7e77de9b3799000d7dcf51da6aac46e535c82ed39edaf09/_82A8421.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/996bff712a804c1c2bdcb301f2835257fd01ee2cabc2d9e7954f11bb85899272/_82A8423.jpg" data-mid="181920295" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/996bff712a804c1c2bdcb301f2835257fd01ee2cabc2d9e7954f11bb85899272/_82A8423.jpg" /> Link to Exhibition Photographs by&nbsp;Fabio Mantegna Summer Wheat’s (American, born 1977) Kiss and Tell at Fondazione Mudima in Milan, features a series of new works furthering Wheat’s exploration of mirroring and themes of vanity, visibility, and love. Wheat’s practice is informed by drawing—where line as a foundational element allows for layers of high-key color to activate the space. Using her unique method of pushing medium through the back and onto the front of screen surfaces—positioned somewhere between painting and textile—she depicts intertwined bodies and a smattering of everyday objects that reform histories depictions of women. In her practice, Wheat is influenced by both ontological and art historical forerunners, citing Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452–1519), Rembrandt (Dutch, 1606–1669), Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917), and Andy Warhol (American, 1928–1987), and concepts connected to intimate, universal, and cosmic space, mirroring, nature, and love. Wheat’s contained worlds foreground female figures and signal the artist’s broader aim to refocus histories lens. The reflection in Wheat’s new work is less about a one-to-one mirroring and more akin to art historian Cristina Albu’s description in her 2016 book Mirror Affect: Seeing Self, Observing Others in Contemporary Art, where she eloquently describes mirroring in art in the latter part of the twentieth century as cultivating “asymmetrical relations between reflection and visual representation, self and others, personally assumed roles and more or less imposed social roles.”1 Wheat’s commitment to activating forms and methods of reflection joins the kind of direct mirroring associated with the theme of water present in her 2020 exhibition Blood, Sweat, and Tears (labor, self-reflection, nourishment) at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri. Reflective elements in this new series are additionally attuned to dismantling historic social constructs surrounding gender representation in art. The electrified lines in Wheat’s work trace this labyrinth of female representation in the lineage of art history— a vibrating timeline with undulating curves and a pulsing electric palette replacing a straight, monochromatic, symmetrical narrative. .... Part of the essay by&nbsp;Erin Dziedzic included in the exhibition catalog.&nbsp; https://summerwheat.com/Golden-Thread-2023 Tue, 21 Mar 2023 13:03:30 +0000 Web https://summerwheat.com/Golden-Thread-2023 SUMMER WHEAT EXHIBITIONS&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;WORK&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;ABOUT Golden Thread, 2023Zidoun Bossuyt, Dubai <img width="1000" height="667" width_o="1000" height_o="667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b8c0d6f13e92d9f2179c8928d7ed4708f93611b0d86cc92d9d085749186bcf4c/AMD_3298-HDR-Edit-copie-2.jpg" data-mid="172523306" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b8c0d6f13e92d9f2179c8928d7ed4708f93611b0d86cc92d9d085749186bcf4c/AMD_3298-HDR-Edit-copie-2.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="667" width_o="1000" height_o="667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/66b85b806779525fea7403cc7f0803ba5e36f2dfbc27d4293897786c166f5674/AMD_3301-HDR-copie-2.jpg" data-mid="172523307" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/66b85b806779525fea7403cc7f0803ba5e36f2dfbc27d4293897786c166f5674/AMD_3301-HDR-copie-2.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="667" width_o="1000" height_o="667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/adeb8dafc3ab485487195cfd9026fbf7ae6e5de93c7af1bc707b01c7e6e8cf15/AMD_3316-HDR-copie-2.jpg" data-mid="172523308" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/adeb8dafc3ab485487195cfd9026fbf7ae6e5de93c7af1bc707b01c7e6e8cf15/AMD_3316-HDR-copie-2.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="667" width_o="1000" height_o="667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/681d89f981528d26a3048b2b74d38ce66d1b42a00ec38d0eb1447f55c0ff0e1d/AMD_3319-HDR-copie-2.jpg" data-mid="172523309" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/681d89f981528d26a3048b2b74d38ce66d1b42a00ec38d0eb1447f55c0ff0e1d/AMD_3319-HDR-copie-2.jpg" /> Link to Exhibition Summer Wheat is known for her vibrant paintings, multifaceted sculptures, and immersive installations that weave together the history of materiality, figuration, and abstraction in both fine art and craft milieus. Wheat’s densely populated “scapes” envision worlds where time seems to have collapsed and every person, regardless of social status, occupies a shared, equal space, in which both labor and leisure are paths to healing humanity. Using a tongue-in-cheek type of humor inspired by comic strips, Wheat subverts conventional hierarchical structures and stereotypes to create more expansive depictions of daily life throughout history. For Wheat, labor functions as both a conceptual and formal connective thread that runs throughout her oeuvre. This relates to her labor-intensive process of making a painting, the term’s definition, as well as its historic visual representation. Wheat’s work often employs the visualization of labor as a tool to expose gender and class inequality. A signature aspect of Wheat’s work is her expressive use of color and unique method of building a painting, which integrates various tools, from her fingers, to syringes, to plastic scrapers, to cake decorating paraphernalia. Using vibrant, almost fluorescent colors of acrylic paint, she combines multiple physical techniques— pushing paint through wire mesh, painting directly onto a heavily impastoed surface, or applying select embellishments—that require her to move around her canvas, working both vertically and horizontally, on the front and the back of each piece. Wheat’s methods and engagement with the emotive nature of color embrace intuition and felt experience over conventional reason and logic, destabilizing the boundaries between figure and ground, representation and abstraction, portrait and landscape, and fine art and craft. The result is tactile, vivid work that engages process, form, and narrative equally, creating layered, non-linear compositions that offer alternative versions of history, mythology, and folklore. Wheat’s contained worlds of female figures enact a universe beyond themselves and signal the artist’s broader themes and processes. In her practice, Wheat is influenced by both spiritual and art historical forerunners, citing de Vinci, Rembrandt (Dutch, 1606–1669), Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917), and Andy Warhol (American, 1928–1987), and concepts connected to internal, external, and cosmic space, mirroring, and nature. “ Planetary motifs have become a recurring theme throughout my past works. These images are meant to be used as mirrors that reflect interior states of being. In these paintings, I consider the relationship between the cosmic realm and human existence by bringing celestial bodies—the sun, moon, and stars—and earthly creatures into a shared pictorial field. Fragmentary and contorted, adorned and decorated, my figural forms and characters evoke the psychological toll and messiness of the mundane experience and search for meaning, and also the beauty and resilience implicit in this process.” https://summerwheat.com/Sweet-on-the-Tongue-2022 Tue, 21 Mar 2023 12:50:08 +0000 Web https://summerwheat.com/Sweet-on-the-Tongue-2022 SUMMER WHEAT EXHIBITIONS&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;WORK&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;ABOUT Sweet on the Tongue, 2022Zidoun Bossuyt, Paris <img width="1000" height="667" width_o="1000" height_o="667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b707f866668c049225b610a55950876b2c1557e96100ca1797922941fd1bf93a/SUMMERWHEATmargotmontigny-7859.jpg" data-mid="172521788" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b707f866668c049225b610a55950876b2c1557e96100ca1797922941fd1bf93a/SUMMERWHEATmargotmontigny-7859.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="667" width_o="1000" height_o="667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/afebcb802777832f372cbc76925744e6096ab7004e621615e726f8aa789e2beb/SUMMERWHEATmargotmontigny-7898.jpg" data-mid="172521795" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/afebcb802777832f372cbc76925744e6096ab7004e621615e726f8aa789e2beb/SUMMERWHEATmargotmontigny-7898.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="667" width_o="1000" height_o="667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/854419ba9a83f2e486aca1fcdea78c91f0bb10d4a8ebbdf18859cb532108e3f6/SUMMERWHEATmargotmontigny-7907.jpg" data-mid="172521806" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/854419ba9a83f2e486aca1fcdea78c91f0bb10d4a8ebbdf18859cb532108e3f6/SUMMERWHEATmargotmontigny-7907.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="667" width_o="1000" height_o="667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9767f3fe07c7562568b65e7ccb80d84d1c6e6ca6f441b7f916076515b9a6ba3c/SUMMERWHEATmargotmontigny-7813.jpg" data-mid="172521779" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9767f3fe07c7562568b65e7ccb80d84d1c6e6ca6f441b7f916076515b9a6ba3c/SUMMERWHEATmargotmontigny-7813.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="667" width_o="1000" height_o="667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c7d71e9fcbb54eaa15829dfb0045d86c72e9a700397b838d785a966d588f6ad5/SUMMERWHEATmargotmontigny-7814.jpg" data-mid="172521781" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c7d71e9fcbb54eaa15829dfb0045d86c72e9a700397b838d785a966d588f6ad5/SUMMERWHEATmargotmontigny-7814.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="667" width_o="1000" height_o="667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ba3b4dca2f830f86112078a0aa71696268d4101ae1cb8dbcd5159914e89c3c6d/SUMMERWHEATmargotmontigny-7883.jpg" data-mid="172521790" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ba3b4dca2f830f86112078a0aa71696268d4101ae1cb8dbcd5159914e89c3c6d/SUMMERWHEATmargotmontigny-7883.jpg" /> Link to Exhibition Summer Wheat’s Sweet on the Tongue is the inaugural exhibition of Zidoun-Bossuyt Paris gallery, featuring a series of new works furthering Wheat’s exploration of mirroring and themes of vanity, visibility and love. Wheat’s practice is formulated by drawing—using line as a foundational element that allows even more high-key colors than ever before to envelop the space, revealing bodies and objects in complex scenarios. In a way, moving one thing over to make space for another creates added surprise elements that are indeed “sweet on the tongue” as Wheat notes in her title. Wheat’s contained worlds of female figures enact a universe beyond themselves and signal the artist’s broader themes and processes. In Last Supper (2022) a distinct sense of mirrored imagery is found in the format of similarly styled female figures around a table akin to Leonardo da Vinci’s (Italian, 1452–1519) High Renaissance painting of The Last Supper (1495–1498). In Wheat’s painting, along with the offerings spread out on the table, situating the female “prophets” in various processes of self-care and emphasizing their preoccupation with themselves and each other signal a literal and metaphorical turning of tables. What was historically da Vinci’s depiction of betrayal is now Wheat’s portrayal of devotion. In her practice, Wheat is influenced by both spiritual and art historical forerunners, citing de Vinci, Rembrandt (Dutch, 1606–1669), Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917), and Andy Warhol (American, 1928–1987), and concepts connected to internal, external, and cosmic space, mirroring, and nature. Recalling Rembrandt’s Self-portrait at easel and painter’s hand-rest (1660) at the Louvre, Wheat’s focus on the self is significant in the context of historical self-portrait of the artist as a cultural representation of looking at oneself and others simultaneously. While not direct self-portraits, the female figures seated around the table create a gaze that both engages the viewer directly and bounces around the composition. The use of a deeper, more saturated black in this new series of works is in dialogue with Rembrandt’s deep black hues often found in his portraits. The color also evokes a sense of void spaces and in turn the idea of locating something, someone, and/or oneself in this shadowed space. It is also clear here that Wheat is looking closely at the absinthe-hued impressionist bar scenes like Degas’s Dans un café (c. 1875–1876), inducing a sense of otherworldly time and space. The perspective of the viewer looking down onto the cluttered table and busy figures references the perspective of the early 20th-century tipped tables and pattern clashing in Henri Matisse’s (French, 1869–1964) still life paintings. This aligns with Wheat’s notion of “turning tables” or changing perspectives on once prescribed ways of seeing the world and seeing women in the world. Wheat is interested in laying some things out on these turned tables—the idea that the divine feminine embodies so much more than what has been historically portrayed, that women have certainly earned their seat at the table after all this time. There are women cooking on little hot plates, curling hair in makeshift vanity areas (another important theme in Wheat’s new works of visualizing and celebrating beauty for beauty’s sake, of not betraying our own femininity), working on the computer (a nod to Wheat’s own artistic practice of drawing, as these paintings begin as iPad sketches), painting finger- and toenails, counting money, arranging combs, makeup palettes, and perfume bottles (perhaps signaling her 2106 Pry the Lid Off exhibition depicting the personal belongings of Johannes Vermeer’s [Dutch, 1632–1675] The Milkmaid [c. 1657–1658]), and looking into mirrors. This high-key-colored, activated last supper looks quite a bit different than our historical painted recollections of the biblical scene of betrayal. This community of women, rather, are working alone and together, making new scenes of visibility, and creating spaces. They mirror a more contemporary vision of retelling histories. —Erin DziedzicDirector of Curatorial Affairs, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art https://summerwheat.com/Anything-Can-Happen-2021 Thu, 08 Jul 2021 16:22:51 +0000 Web https://summerwheat.com/Anything-Can-Happen-2021 SUMMER WHEAT EXHIBITIONS&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;WORK&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;ABOUT Anything Can Happen, 2021Shulamit Nazarian Gallery, Los Angeles, CA <img width="1000" height="673" width_o="1000" height_o="673" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/428e061c0133b4afbeeabaee898322b03a20d9f4b35f76561a246f2817f78b12/Anything-Can-Happen_Summer-Wheat_Shulamit-Nazarian_install3.jpg" data-mid="114241461" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/428e061c0133b4afbeeabaee898322b03a20d9f4b35f76561a246f2817f78b12/Anything-Can-Happen_Summer-Wheat_Shulamit-Nazarian_install3.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="678" width_o="1000" height_o="678" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2698049aa6c317de09416cf8edc65f5498a7440d5bac59c78b49cc2a9c4534fa/Anything-Can-Happen_Summer-Wheat_Shulamit-Nazarian_install2.jpg" data-mid="114241462" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2698049aa6c317de09416cf8edc65f5498a7440d5bac59c78b49cc2a9c4534fa/Anything-Can-Happen_Summer-Wheat_Shulamit-Nazarian_install2.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="667" width_o="1000" height_o="667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4732005440af4eb2ff16019da4506c5451e7f39f116d4331fde79e7467d1fde4/Anything-Can-Happen_Summer-Wheat_Shulamit-Nazarian_install4.jpg" data-mid="114241460" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4732005440af4eb2ff16019da4506c5451e7f39f116d4331fde79e7467d1fde4/Anything-Can-Happen_Summer-Wheat_Shulamit-Nazarian_install4.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="667" width_o="1000" height_o="667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b3958d2a4c0071b90469b12c7d0c5fb0fd60dd084306bf568d93e94582f0b820/Anything-Can-Happen_Summer-Wheat_Shulamit-Nazarian_install5.jpg" data-mid="114241459" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b3958d2a4c0071b90469b12c7d0c5fb0fd60dd084306bf568d93e94582f0b820/Anything-Can-Happen_Summer-Wheat_Shulamit-Nazarian_install5.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="667" width_o="1000" height_o="667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/25c8a87d76ed8e82c41b876a922cd722610852f60f658ad3ae990d4625a30534/Anything-Can-Happen_Summer-Wheat_Shulamit-Nazarian_Install.jpg" data-mid="114241463" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/25c8a87d76ed8e82c41b876a922cd722610852f60f658ad3ae990d4625a30534/Anything-Can-Happen_Summer-Wheat_Shulamit-Nazarian_Install.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="549" width_o="1000" height_o="549" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c0034555a5938549a517558e4911922290df7774bc4f524e0c4dd9508289482f/Anything-Can-Happen_Summer-Wheat_Shulamit-Nazarian_install6.jpg" data-mid="114241458" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c0034555a5938549a517558e4911922290df7774bc4f524e0c4dd9508289482f/Anything-Can-Happen_Summer-Wheat_Shulamit-Nazarian_install6.jpg" /> Link to exhibition The paintings featured in Anything Can Happen exemplify Summer Wheat’s career-long exploration of gendered archetypes found throughout history, the visualization of varied forms of labor, and the monumentalization of the quotidian. Expanding upon these interests, this body of work considers how the destabilization of our present moment can inspire a more wondrous experience of the everyday. Impacted by how the fabric of society has become unmoored over the past year, this series renders our moment of absurdity with equal parts anxiety, optimism, and play. In this wavering space where definitions blur, Wheat explores our newfound capacity to rethink day-to-day rules and structures. Consistent with past paintings, the works in Anything Can Happen look back at moments in Art History connected to labor and gender. Presenting a tradition in which women were the original healers and caretakers, Wheat reimagines historically male-dominated roles by swapping gender-specific representations in her paintings. As the artist has stated, “Popular depictions of doctors, scientists and even diagrams such as the Vitruvian Man signify our relationship to understanding the human body through a male lens. It is my interest to take passages from history and create new versions where women proliferate these roles.” Known for their tactility and texture, Wheat’s materials take on the form of both painting and sculpture, and borrow from the rich, and often gendered, history of fibers and textiles. Composed of acrylic paint pushed through a wire mesh, Wheat’s fragmented and geometric figures are depicted ingesting vitamins and medicine, engaging in acts of self-care, and providing for one another within interwoven worlds. Included in this exhibition is a series of stones and works-on-panel that function as textural foils. Providing a tactile and grounding experience for the viewer, these functional sculptures are based on the form of river stones and are adorned with hand-laid stone in the form of a mosaic, offering a physical reminder of some of the earliest forms of storytelling and communication. Throughout history, people have sought to better understand the physical body as a way to garner control against mysterious external influences. The works in Anything Can Happen bring the body into focus by recalling and challenging a collective past understood through images and storytelling. As the exploration of the outside world has recently been restricted, these works formulate a new investigation of our inner world: our mind, our emotions, our bodies. Proposing a new reality that is embedded with wonder, Wheat has upended the logic that typically governs us, in search of an alternative understanding of the function of our bodies and its influence on our innerselves. https://summerwheat.com/Foragers-2020 Tue, 03 Aug 2021 15:49:11 +0000 Web https://summerwheat.com/Foragers-2020 SUMMER WHEAT EXHIBITIONS&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;WORK&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;ABOUT Foragers, 2020The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC <img width="1000" height="893" width_o="1000" height_o="893" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1b34d4c415f4f53788ba0ced482273f2cb4ecd17ec1ed299b4a255351862e296/SummerWheat_sun-3.jpg" data-mid="115302908" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1b34d4c415f4f53788ba0ced482273f2cb4ecd17ec1ed299b4a255351862e296/SummerWheat_sun-3.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="892" width_o="1000" height_o="892" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fa3fabb2e1a5fcfaace6f16e73c2678f12f404a97cb52d7a3a72f32051df9285/Summer_Wheat_FINAL-3.jpg" data-mid="115302939" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/fa3fabb2e1a5fcfaace6f16e73c2678f12f404a97cb52d7a3a72f32051df9285/Summer_Wheat_FINAL-3.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="763" width_o="1000" height_o="763" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/27e08c591ebb32787a49169b2311515519525cf61a3bea210800b49fcfb86452/MINT.jpg" data-mid="121417735" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/27e08c591ebb32787a49169b2311515519525cf61a3bea210800b49fcfb86452/MINT.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="763" width_o="1000" height_o="763" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/42cf7e2069bbd4daacef48c85cffb9b5448c52d9bb3f7b9be081d91374a1d938/SummerWheat_sun-2.jpg" data-mid="115302932" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/42cf7e2069bbd4daacef48c85cffb9b5448c52d9bb3f7b9be081d91374a1d938/SummerWheat_sun-2.jpg" /> “Foragers,” 2020, colored vinyl on mylar, 805 ¹⁄₂" x 738 ¹⁄₂" Link to Exhibition Summer Wheat’s Foragers is a monumental work of art spanning four stories and 3,720 square feet in Mint Museum Uptown’s Robert Haywood Morrison Atrium. A myriad of vibrant panels that give the illusion of stained glass fill the atrium’s 96 windows and weave a story of women who labor to build the communities that form the spine of modern society. “In so many ways, Foragers is a monumental tribute to all those anonymous female makers and laborers who have made North Carolina the place that it is today: the Catawba clay workers, the Cherokee basket makers, the enslaved and freed African-American fishers and farmers, the countless woodworkers, weavers, and quilters,” says Jen Sudul Edwards, PhD, the Mint’s chief curator and curator of contemporary art. Foragers is part of a larger exhibition, In Vivid Color, opening Oct. 16, 2020, that brings together contemporary artists Summer Wheat, Gisela Colon, Spencer Finch, and Jennifer Steinkamp who create works celebrating the power of color. Their work is juxtaposed with a selection of paintings and works on paper, drawn primarily from The Mint Museum’s permanent collection, which showcase artists’ more traditional exploration of color. https://summerwheat.com/Blood-Sweat-and-Tears-2020 Tue, 20 Jul 2021 15:40:33 +0000 Web https://summerwheat.com/Blood-Sweat-and-Tears-2020 SUMMER WHEAT EXHIBITIONS&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;WORK&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;ABOUT Blood, Sweat, and Tears, 2020Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO <img width="1000" height="667" width_o="1000" height_o="667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2ffe951be8b68b61a21c0c21a504ac6fd2011a684b505feeb6d6862a4d497263/Kemper---Summer-Wheat---Feb-2020-7132.jpg" data-mid="115303411" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2ffe951be8b68b61a21c0c21a504ac6fd2011a684b505feeb6d6862a4d497263/Kemper---Summer-Wheat---Feb-2020-7132.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="667" width_o="1000" height_o="667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/aa73df6154bb1e7de02092a33a9daea40f951b7b39e1844c7622d858c14932fb/Kemper---Summer-Wheat---Feb-2020-6978.jpg" data-mid="115303405" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/aa73df6154bb1e7de02092a33a9daea40f951b7b39e1844c7622d858c14932fb/Kemper---Summer-Wheat---Feb-2020-6978.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="667" width_o="1000" height_o="667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/21f8f4988b34c95dc92ea9c8336985652074f726cc66c40d2ec511a40f951940/Kemper---Summer-Wheat---Feb-2020-7068.jpg" data-mid="115303409" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/21f8f4988b34c95dc92ea9c8336985652074f726cc66c40d2ec511a40f951940/Kemper---Summer-Wheat---Feb-2020-7068.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="667" width_o="1000" height_o="667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f2ad3818fc7a76ec81e8cdc593ac881b6dd96dafd09bae49dd500d04144787bc/Kemper---Summer-Wheat---Feb-2020-6975.jpg" data-mid="115303404" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f2ad3818fc7a76ec81e8cdc593ac881b6dd96dafd09bae49dd500d04144787bc/Kemper---Summer-Wheat---Feb-2020-6975.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="529" width_o="1000" height_o="529" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f5525bf292b9272cebdfcaa4a1ebc1317195d96ca95881bd8f60bbf49007f7a4/Kemper---Summer-Wheat---Feb-2020-7036.jpg" data-mid="115303407" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f5525bf292b9272cebdfcaa4a1ebc1317195d96ca95881bd8f60bbf49007f7a4/Kemper---Summer-Wheat---Feb-2020-7036.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="529" width_o="1000" height_o="529" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/58e16dbadb39e6440a002f6fb714159266a629f7eaeaad0192eda81e2b774777/KEMPER.jpg" data-mid="121418251" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/58e16dbadb39e6440a002f6fb714159266a629f7eaeaad0192eda81e2b774777/KEMPER.jpg" /> Link to Exhibition In Blood, Sweat, and Tears, artist Summer Wheat’s vibrantly colored paintings depict a community of heroic females doing the “heavy lifting and running things.” Using an inventive process of pushing paint through aluminum mesh, Wheat’s large-scale paintings resemble medieval tapestries showing female figures as hunters, fishers, and beekeepers. These women rewrite historical imagery through themes such as labor, discovery, and expressions of joy where traditionally only men were present. Introducing the technical progression of Wheat’s work over the last three years and debuting new paintings and drawings, this exhibition further emphasizes the relationship between drawing, painting, and sculpture. Beginning with drawings referencing inspiration from a broad spectrum of art historical references, ranging from Egyptian pictography to Native American imagery, from French Post-Impressionism to American Pop Art, Wheat questions the history of these narratives by proposing a contemporary perspective. She translates these drawings into brilliantly colorful, thickly encrusted paintings that appear almost sculptural as they bend slightly away from the wall like a tapestry. This exhibition is a milestone for Wheat as she continues to be inventive with her process and the reauthoring of everyday life. Blood, Sweat, and Tears is curated by Erin Dziedzic, director of curatorial affairs.