Portia Munson
Portia Munson
Green Aftermath, 2006
pigmented ink on rag paper
44 x 62 ins.
111.76 x 157.48 cm
P·P·O·W is pleased to announce Green, a solo exhibition by Portia Munson. In this exhibition Portia Munson will show her flower mandala photographs, a large installation, and paintings. The exhibition is accompanied by a full-color catalogue.
Portia Munson
Lawn, 2007
found green plastic
40 x 200 x 180 ins.
101.6 x 508 x 457.2 cm
Enter the gallery and experience Green: Lawn a large-scale floor installation made up of thousands of green plastic objects, collected by Munson resulting in a full-throttle inorganic color experience. Piles of green-on-green plastic detritus flood the gallery floor, in patches of varying shades, to create a plastic lawn. As in her earlier installations -- Pink Project and The Garden –Lawn delves into who we are as a culture, as defined by the objects we mass-produce, consume and throw away. Munson transforms these objects into powerful assemblages that critique our material values and “throwaway” mentality.
In the same room, large-scale flower images line the gallery walls. Using flowers from her garden, Munson creates mandalas that contain an intensity of detail, and saturation of color, which mirrors the dense floor installation. Munson collects the flowers at their peak and lays them out on a scanner in concentric patterns. These flower arrays are captured in high-resolution scans and printed on watercolor paper with pigmented ink. Each print is a sharply detailed kaleidoscope that mixes the utopian beauty of the Garden of Eden with the dizzying visuals of a psychedelic trip -- the flowers seem to explode out in a pyrotechnical climax.
In the back gallery a grouping of Munson’s recent small still-life paintings will also be on display. In these paintings Munson depicts singular objects, in contrast to the thousands that make up Lawn. The paintings isolate common objects – such as an empty angel-food cake pan, or a plastic leaf with a toy stick – allowing individual meanings to resonate.
Portia Munson is best known for her saturated pink plastic installation at the New Museum’s Bad Girls show in 1994. She had her first one-person show at White Columns in 1993 and has exhibited in numerous group exhibitions as well as two solo shows at Yoshii Gallery. Recently, as part of a show titled Out of Context, a billboard-size image of a flower mandala was exhibited at The Fields Sculpture Park at Art Omi International Arts Center, Omi, NY, and Munson recently had a solo exhibition at SUNY Ulster which included Pink Project: Mound. Last year she exhibited her flower mandalas as part of a two-person show at P·P·O·W.
Munson lives and works in Catskill, NY.
Portia Munson
Toy Stick/Plastic Leaf, 2005
oil on linen
15 x 18 ins.
38.1 x 45.72 cm
Portia Munson
Mermaid Dish with Potatoes, 2005
oil on linen
18 x 20 ins.
45.7 x 50.8 cm
Portia Munson
Doll Slip, 2002
oil on linen
10 x 11 ins.
25.4 x 27.9 cm
Portia Munson
Bleeding Hearts, 2006
pigmented ink on rag paper
44 x 61 1/2 ins.
111.76 x 156.21 cm
Portia Munson
Crocus Bulbs, 2009
pigmented ink on rag paper
29 1/2 x 31 1/4 ins.
74.93 x 79.38 cm
Portia Munson
Rose Bed, 2006
pigmented ink on rag paper
44 x 62 1/2 ins.
111.76 x 158.75 cm