Enticing Collages Captivate Arc Stages’ New Exhibit
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There is a delightful buoyancy in the mixed media collages by local artist Mary Cara Bates whose solo exhibition “Harborwalk” opens at the Radius Gallery at Arc Stages in Pleasantville this Sunday.
Bates, a Cold Spring resident, created some of the show’s 12 pieces by cutting out angular shapes from her older abstract drawings and watercolor paintings and rearranging them into newly-realized compositions.
“The fun surprise of fragmenting something is once you dissect a work it abstracts it even further and produces a very different look from the original drawing,” Bates explained. “I’ve worked in the past with grids, circles and triangles. What I love about the triangle shape is that it’s very flexible and able to fit into configuring pieces that flow into each other.”
These enticing collages interweave reverberating textures and layers lending to a kinetic sense to myriad triangles, circles and quirky geometric shapes that seem to be somersaulting between refined white lines and languid planes of color.
In “Flotsam,” an animated island of triangles and squares hover over a contrasting pool of cooler blues and grays that quietly dissolve off the paper.
Thick textured shapes and rich colors in “Community Garden” offer an active terrain in the foreground, an energy quieted by distinct white lines and soft yellows, greens and purples in the background. The painting is one field with the collage a separate layer, Bates said.
“It creates this push and pull between foreground and background. It’s always a challenge to create depth in my work,” she said.
How memories present themselves in fragmented flashbacks over time and informs artistic expression is what inspires Bates’ creative process. The work in “Harborwalk” is based on a trip Bates made a few years ago to Boston’s Seaport District, a former industrial area on Boston Harbor that is now a popular destination. Bates used original paintings from that trip to slice into new shapes.
She said recalling her Boston visit prompted her to focus on the visual nature of memory.
“Meditating on the different experiences of my trip inspired the whole concept of memory and how the mind’s pull emphasizes certain experiences,” she said.
“Harborwalk” is Bates first solo show. Her art has been in several juried exhibits, including shows at the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, the Garrison Art Center and the Blue Door Art Center in Yonkers. Bates holds a bachelor’s in fine arts from Carnegie Mellon University. She studied with sculptor Joseph Mack at Huntington Fine Arts in Huntington, N.Y. and at the Scarborough Technical College in Scarborough, U.K.
The show was curated by Radius Gallery Curatorial Director Stuart Vance who noted that the gallery is now in its eighth year of partnership with Arc Stages.
“The gallery is becoming known for its thoughtful, singular approach to exhibiting work from the art community in and around Westchester County,” Vance said. “The mission of Radius Gallery is to seek out artists speaking to this fragmentation and working to find answers to essential questions being asked in today’s cultural environment. We are looking for art that doesn’t shy away from complexity and asks viewers to come to it and see what it says for themselves.”
“Harborwalk” at the Radius Gallery at Arc Stages is located at 147 Wheeler Ave. in Pleasantville. Sunday’s opening reception will be from 1 to 4 p.m.
The exhibit continues through Feb. 28, 2025.
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