press release :: Doing a Lot with Very Little

NEW YORK, NY – Jen Bekman is pleased to present Doing a Lot With Very Little, an exhibition of new paintings by Carrie Marill. Her work has been exhibited across the United States and featured in publications such as New American Paintings, Wired Magazine, and The New York Times. This will be her first solo exhibition in New York City.

The exhibition will be on view Friday, September 12 through October 18, 2008 at Jen Bekman Gallery, located at 6 Spring Street, New York, NY, 10012. An opening reception for the artist will be held on the evening of Friday, September 12 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the gallery.

Carrie Marill’s new work is an intimate series of paintings where houseplants and color studies cohabitate. In these jewel-like paintings, she investigates natural systems from the organic to the mathematical, permeating the domestic world with surprising elements of abstraction and optical illusion.

Marill paints houseplants with delicate precision, showing nature in isolated groupings. Her color studies mimic biological organization systems, exploring mathematical stacking principles and organic patterns of accumulation and flow. She gives motion to the page through repetitive forms; lines begin to optically move in the shadows, suggesting growth in unlikely places.

Jen Bekman comments:

The quiet, delicate presence of her humble houseplants reminds me that the most mundane things can anchor a moment and define a memory… In detailing the intricate geometry of branches and leaves and noticing the way the plants seem to stretch together towards an unseen sun, she is creating a richer connection to the time and the place that she remembered to see them. She's taken some plants, and turned them into those plants, the ones that were there when she was, if you will, doing a lot with very little.

Doing A Lot With Very Little at Jen Bekman Gallery, 6 Spring Street
Hours: Wednesday-Saturday, noon-6pm or by private appointment

For additional information and images email press@jenbekman.com or phone 212.219.0166