Details:
① Artwork:
Lapis Sound
This painting depicts loud and flamboyant plant life, their exclamatory presence prolonged through the use of charged hue and abstracted form. This composition expands upon the artist's visual language of comical yet unsettling forms that oscillate between representation and abstraction—channeling the tenets of pop abstraction and surrealist bio-morphism. Encompassing painting and sculptural installation, Cunat's work confronts familiarity by exaggerating or omitting characteristics from a model or observed source. The artist draws influence from depictions of nature in early American paintings, Shaker gift drawings, Japanese textile patterns and art deco, as well as sci-fi and horror movies.
About this work, the artist says: "At first, the works appear amusing and bright, however, upon deeper examination, the otherworldly figures become increasingly insidious as the thorny shapes pierce the confines of their frame. My paintings have a velvet-like, matte surface produced from multiple coats of flashe, gouache and other flat paint. I want ambient light to shift gradually across the surface of the painting, versus a glossy finish, which tends to reflect light. The sharpness of a form’s edge is produced by guiding a bead of paint along its contour, and after several coats of paint, produces a delineating ridge between fields of color."
Specs:
③ Artist:
Amie Cunat’s painting and sculptural installation confront familiarity through their exaggeration or the omission of characteristics from observed sources. The Japanese American artist draws influence from early American paintings and their depictions of nature, as well as Shaker gift drawings, Japanese textile patterns, Art Deco, and sci-fi and horror movies. Cunat's paintings frequently feature plant life whose flamboyant and exclamatory presence is prolonged through the use of charged hue and abstracted form.
BIO:
Cunat was born in McHenry, Illinois in 1986. The artist received an MFA from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, as well as a Post-Baccalaureate in Painting and Drawing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Illinois. Cunat received a BA in Visual Arts and Art History from Fordham University in New York City.
Solo exhibitions of Cunat’s work have taken place at: Dinner Gallery in New York City; Peep Projects in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon in New Lebanon, New York; Victori +Mo in Brooklyn, New York; Knockdown Center in Queens, New York; and Sunroom Project Space at Wave Hill in the Bronx, New York; among others.
Group exhibitions that have shown Cunat’s work have taken place at: ArtYard in Frenchtown, New Jersey; DC Moore Gallery in New York City; and Crush Curatorial in New York City; among others.
Cunat is the recipient of a Regional Economic Development Council Grant by NYSCA in collaboration with the Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon.
Cunat’s work has been reviewed by and featured in: The New York Times, ARTnews, Artsy, Artnet News, Title Magazine, Vogue Italia, ArtMaze Magazine, and Two Coats of Paint.
Cunat lives in New York City and teaches at Fordham University and The Cooper Union.