Ever notice that brightly-colored building just before getting onto I-95? How could you miss it: not only is it home to three separate visual arts entities (the Michael Jon Gallery, Bas Fisher Invitational and Dimensions Variable all call this complex home), but it happens to be within a stone's throw of the monumental PAMM site (and the forthcoming Frost Science Museum and Planetarium). With that in mind, a nice introduction to the complex is the newest offering from non-profit space Dimensions Variable, courtesy of local artist Lynne Golob Gelfman.
Gelfman turns practical or ordinary surfaces into vivid tessellations of color. She has an uncanny ability to inject alternate senses into seemingly flat media: blue feels comfortable, or red almost generates a low vibration. Her long association with the South Florida biosphere emanates through her choices of gradients and patterns. What could easily be misconstrued as decorative repetition is actually a calculated set of gestures that bend to the will of the colors, themselves. Gelfman creates colors as distinctive personalities, much in the way that Barnett Newman and Morris Louis re-elevated color above mere concept or construct. Trued Surface also sounds a bit like 'tried' surface, in a sense using the surface as a test or an isolated experiment. But these canvases are not islands: they are threaded together using the connective tissue of interest in textiles, printmaking and color-blocking. All of these techniques are seamlessly integrated into a complex, joyous tapestry.
Lynne Golob Gelfman paints abstract pictures. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and the School of the Arts, Columbia University. Recent solo exhibitions include scapes (2012), the Frost Art Museum, FIU, Miami and sand (2012), Alejandra von Hartz Gallery, Miami. Her works are included in many public and private collections as well as in the permanent collections of museums of the Pérez Art Museum of Miami; Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami; National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution; The Norton Museum; The Baltimore Museum of Art and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Gelfman lives and works in Miami.
Dimensions Variable is an artist-run exhibition space committed to advancing artistic discourse in Miami. Our main focus is to create an exchange of ideas between our city and the international community. Through collaborations with artists, galleries and institutions from around the world, we hope to support dynamic projects that engage our community and provide an opportunity to initiate a dialogue elsewhere. Our program consists of exhibitions, discussions, lectures, and special projects. We are generously supported by Miami Worldcenter and a Knight Arts Challenge Grant from the Knight Foundation. Dimensions Variable is run by Adler Guerrier, Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova and Frances Trombly.
Trued Surface: Lynne Golob Gelfman opened on January 11th and closes on February 23rd. Dimensions Variable is located in Downtown Miami at 100 NE 11th Street. For more information, call (305) 607-5527 or visit www.dimensionsvariable.net
