Celia Gerard: Forces of Life

New York, NY— Sears Peyton Gallery is pleased to present a show of new works by Celia Gerard. Forces of Life is her fourth solo exhibition with the gallery. This exhibition marks the first show since the artist became a mother. Gerard’s work has always been driven by the hidden geometry and underlying structures in nature. In this new body of work, Gerard reaches beyond the conceptual. This show grounds the viewer in the sensual physicality of Gerard’s mark-making and embraces a new, joyful energy brought on by this monumental shift in the artist’s life.

In these works, Gerard articulates a deeper understanding of her visual language; exploring complex compositional relationships between biomorphic and geometric forms while discovering a new sense of spaciousness. Gestures in charcoal and graphite create depth, playing off the grid, as she invites us to participate in her search for spiritual resonance and substance.

For Gerard, working on paper is essential. Because of the paper’s highly resilient surface, she sands, draws, paints, tears, cuts and repairs the paper throughout her process-driven work. The layers of these pieces reflect the pace and time spent with each one, often worked on over many years. A palpable sense of touch remains. In “Devi”, Gerard combines the elegance of a Cézanne watercolor with the tactility of a Robert Ryman. This balances materiality with elements of a mysterious state of limitless potential, pointing towards an architecture of the eternal. Yet the work is undeniably intimate and human in scale. Artist Bruce Gagnier, one of Gerard’s mentors, describes her work as “an important place to arrive at after a poetic journey; a place deep in space; but with no named presence; focused finally in ourselves.”

In addition to the six large scale works in the main gallery space, there will be five pieces in the adjacent Project Room. These celestial tonal works oscillate between light and darkness. Mona Malarsky of ARTnews details the magic of her monochromatic work “Gerard’s white-on-black works lead us into a night where ghostly glass structures loom like memories of dreams.”

Celia Gerard (b. 1973, raised in NYC) received her BA with Honors in Art and Art History from Colgate University, her MFA in Sculpture from the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture and her EdM from Harvard University. In addition, she studied with Nicolas Carone and Bruce Gagnier at the International School of Art in Umbria, Italy.  One-person exhibitions include Sears-Peyton Gallery; Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Jackson, WY; John Davis Gallery, Hudson, NY. Her work has been included in numerous national and international group exhibitions, including the National Academy Museum, New York, NY and Harvard University. Awards and grants include the S.J. Wallace Truman Fund Award for graphics from the National Academy Museum; Artist-in-residence, the New York Studio School; Seligman/ Von Simpson award for excellence in sculpture; LCU foundation grant; and a sculpture fellowship from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Her work has been written about in ARTnews, The Daily Beast, ARTSY, Artspace, The NY Sun, Parabola, works & conversations, and City Arts.  She currently teaches at the School of Visual Arts, and has taught at Columbia University, Pratt Institute, Bard College, Swarthmore, the New York Studio School, Saint Ann’s School and Riker’s Island Correctional Facility. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Celia Gerard: Forces of Life is on view from April 30 – June 1, 2024. An opening reception for the artist will take place on Friday, May 3rd from 5-7PM. Exhibition hours are Tuesday-Friday 11am-5pm and Saturday from 12pm-5pm. For more information or to request further images or information, please contact the gallery at info@searspeyton.com.