MIYAKO YOSHINAGA is pleased to announce a new exhibition of twenty works on paper from a private collection. The exhibition recreates the distinctive spirit of a lifetime interest in non-traditional techniques, mediums and narrative visions. The exhibition features works dating from the 1970s to 2010s that embody the collector’s open-minded approach with a nod to eccentric imagery. While Susan Te Kahurangi King and Anna Zemánková demonstrate unique visions of self-taught or Outsider Art, Kiki Smith, Jose Barboza-Gubo and Andrew Mroczek, Nusra Quereshi and Jennifer Perry Shingelo share issues of identity, gender and family relationships through a variety of media and techniques. While Tony Fitzpatrick, Sue Coe, Joanne Carlson, Mary Frank and Tara Tucker depict surreal imaginings inspired by flora and fauna, Marcel Dzama, Neil Farber, Marc Bell and Frances Hamilton engage in humorous narratives.
The collector and artist, Karen Moss, was born in Boston and moved to Toledo, Ohio when she was eight. She recalled that her eccentric aesthetic was partly shaped by several factors, most significantly her mother’s unconventional taste. Her mother, who had been an actress in New York, wore unusual clothes, disliked symmetry and decorated the living room walls with paper that had been misprinted so that the eyes of people depicted were adjacent to their faces. In the 1960s at Rhode Island School of Design, Moss studied with the New York illustrator Richard Merkin, who appeared on the cover of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper album. His own work, as well as his unorthodox and often humorous still lives, included icons of pop imagery such as Micky Mouse and the American flag, which were a major influence in Moss’ work.
Moss’ first foray into the world of collecting began in the 1970s with a watercolor by Gladys Nilsson, a member of the Hairy Who group from Chicago represented by the New York dealer Phyllis Kind. Kind promoted artists whose aesthetic was a departure from work that was being shown in other New York galleries at the time in that it emphasized surreal and provocative subject matter. Over the next four decades, Moss continued to visit galleries and artist's studios with works that challenged conventional notions of beauty, often with sexual and political overtones. Her later interest in Outsider Art was a natural evolution after being exposed to European Art Brut, the Prinzhorn Collection and the establishment of the Outsider Art Fair in New York in 1993.
This exhibit celebrates a collection based on years of looking at and finding unique artistic visions. The works have greatly enriched the life and home of the collector and now she hopes to share them with a wider audience. MIYAKO YOSHINAGA is pleased to make this work available for sale in the gallery and online at: www.miyakoyoshinaga.com. We thank Yilu Zhuang for her curatorial contribution to this exhibition.
For inquiries and image and checklist requests, please contact info @miyakoyoshinaga.com +1 212 268 7132