May 3 - June 2
Opening Reception: May 3, from 5:30 to 7:30
Writing on the Wall, 2011, Ash, paint, dowels, 90 x 90 x 3 in. Photo: Alan Robin/Aline Dargie
In her first solo exhibition with the gallery, Gyöngy Laky will present a series of work examining our complex relationship with nature. Sculptural pieces containing words, letters, and symbols are made of painted and stained branches and twigs combined with screws, nails, wires, and plastic figurines.
This show will feature a selection of work exploring on the transitional space between visual and textual aspects of Laky's work, such as Writing on the Wall, a grid of wooden objects seemingly shifting between two symbolic information codes. The organic essence of the natural wood contrasted with the spiky industrial elements draws upon the ambivalence of the natural and artificial, organic and industrial, and encapsulate co-existing feelings of violence and serenity, aggression and sanctuary.
Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1944, Gyöngy Laky studied at UC Berkeley where she earned both her B.A. and M.A.degrees (B.A., 1970 and M.A., 1971). She has exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States and internationally in France, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Holland, Switzerland, Hungary, Lithuania, Colombia, the Philippines, China, and England.
A past recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Davis, Laky's work is in museum collections in Europe and the United States, including the San Francisco MOMA, The Smithsonian's Renwick Museum of American Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Oakland Museum, and the Contemporary Museum in Honolulu. The Smithsonian Institution is currently assembling a collection of Laky's personal papers, photographs and documents for the Archives of American Art.
