FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Beatrice Caracciolo

Shelter Lines

January 20 – February 26, 2005

BEATRICE CARACCIOLO's latest exhibition brings together two monumental sculptures constructed of salvaged zinc, formerly roofing material. Shelter is a 20 foot long freestanding screen from 1996 that seems to fortify the wall while echoing the purposeful lines of CARACCIOLO's works on paper. This piece comes as her response to the destruction in Sarajevo and the displaced peoples of the former Yugoslavia's need to cobble together shelter, however humble, for protection. The other, a new work titled Shelter in Space, is evocative of a ship's sail filled with wind and appears both weightless, yet materially substantial. While of the same reclaimed metal, this new work is less earthbound and indeed hangs from the ceiling defying its weighty appearance. A series of small zinc wall pieces will also be shown.

CARACCIOLO's works on paper will also be on view and in them she continues to explore the potential of line to record the expressiveness of motion.  Her drawings have been called “compromises between the controlled and the uninhibited,” and they indeed combine a refined sensorimotor intelligence with a fearless artistic hand.  In his catalogue essay Paul Ardenne likens CARACCIOLO's working method to the "mental discipline associated with 'spiritual exercises'." These latest works are rigorous with the poetry but not the serenity of her earlier works.  Each work is more frenetic with layered energetic markings.

Her calligraphic forms, both in the works on paper and the zinc sculptures, have an intuitive facility.  “Line is born from the impossibility of being traced in any other manner,” she explains. A closer look at the drawings’ depth of surface and careful compositions reveal the deliberateness with which CARACCIOLO creates her work. She works with crayon, charcoal and graphite on paper wet with a mixture of glue and pigment.  As the surface dries, her gestural lines become fixed to the paper, capturing the immediacy of her drawing method. CARACCIOLO’s completed strokes have a distinct presence that imbues the shadowy space in her drawings with a subtle energy. She says  that her approach attempts "to rediscover space and movement, to be part of it, to project yourself into it by making just the right mark."

BEATRICE CARACCIOLO lives and works in Paris where she has also previously exhibited.  Her work is included in private collections in both Europe and the United States.  CARACCIOLO, Italian, was educated in New York. This exhibition is her third solo show at Charles Cowles Gallery. An illustrated catalogue including an essay by Paul Ardenne is available in conjunction with this exhibition ($15).

The exhibition will be on view at the Charles Cowles Gallery, 537 West 24^th Street, between 10^th and 11^th Avenues in Chelsea.  Hours are 10am to 6pm, Tuesday through Saturday. There will be a reception for the artist on Friday, January 21, from 6-8 pm.

For further information or photographs, please contact the gallery.