Gravers Lane Gallery is pleased to present Barbara Straussberg’s
first solo exhibition with our gallery.
In “Paper Revealed”, Straussberg moves from her abstract gestural painting to working with an ancient Korean paper process known as Joomchi. The paper develops a unique textural signature retaining remarkable resilience and strength. With the push and pull of her hands, Straussberg transforms the paper into sculptural forms.
Straussberg adds her knowledge of color, drawing skills, and paper lithography to create richly colored sections of Joomchi, including stretched areas that form lace-like structures. The handmade papers are imprinted with images of floating figures among aging trees and abstracted landscapes. These images are potent reminders of human fragility, Straussberg’s ancestral history, and the complex layers of birth to death. The extreme physicality used to bind the paper connects Straussberg to the passage of time and shifting roles that form her personal family tree. The Joomchi paper process serves as a metaphor for lasting familial strength.
Straussberg has studied at Northwestern University, The University of Pennsylvania and The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. She has been exhibiting her work professionally since 1995 and is represented in numerous public and private collections. |