Barbara Sullivan shows a new body of work in Caldbeck Gallery’s virtual exhibit “Come Sit.”
Empty chairs in a room suggest a human presence, as well as presenting an invitation to sit. Though inanimate, chairs can evoke the life and history of those who have sat in them, the personal history of their use and their era. They are vessels of memory.
Sullivan plays with these ideas as she makes her shaped fresco chairs. These are bas-relief objects — nearly life size — that have a real physical presence. Her work is both painting and sculpture; each chair structure is constructed like a sculpture, the surface is painted in true buon fresco (ground pigments painted into freshly laid wet slaked lime plaster).
Sullivan gleans her chair styles from historical furniture books and from memory. She might photograph a chair in a waiting room or other random space, if it suggests something.
Surface designs are from collections of combined fabric scraps, interior design samples, memories of nostalgic patterns, even decorative “Target” napkins.
Sullivan’s chairs, each with its distinctive personality, not only invite us to sit but to savor their presence, humor and flair.
View the e-catalog at https://bit.ly/3iRa8Yj.
For more information, email [email protected], go to www.caldbeck.com, or call 207-594-5935.
