we are over the moon to open three new exhibitions in may for painters emma childs, jean alexander frater and edward minoff. emma childs custom builds each shaped canvas combining color and form to challenge the viewer’s perception. her paintings feel like containers bulging with energy moving in all directions while the same time being completely balanced in their compositions. they take you to the edge and keep your attention. jean alexander frater approaches her canvases as material to be manipulated into another realm. her torn and woven acrylic paintings start out as large swaths of canvas then through tearing into strips are woven back together to create an entirely new entity. frater often adds appendages to the paintings, extra canvas wrapped around layers of more canvas to extend beyond the edges to create a organic frame. edward minoff is a classical trained artist who starts his paintings by making studies on site especially along long island, new york. he then brings them back to his studio in brooklyn to recreate into a larger format. not only does minoff paint the seascapes in all their glory, he captures the mood through light and shadow. looking at one of his seascapes, it hardly takes any imagination to hear the surf crashing at your feet while standing on the shore.
emma childs is an american painter exploring color abstraction as a way of transforming intangible experiences and emotions into a language of layered acrylic paintings, often on shaped canvas. childs paintings distill the complexities of human connection and emotional states using a minimalist presenting language of simplified form, color, and shape. color is built up in layers on the canvas; choices in color and application dance between the intuitive and calculated. these shaped canvases are simultaneously images and sculptural objects, serving as containers built to give physical presence and structure to the intangible. childs’ paintings serve as layered depictions of the worlds we build around ourselves.
childs is based in baltimore, md and holds a bfa in general fine arts from the maryland institute college of art. her work has been exhibited internationally and is held in public and private collections across the united states as well as the uk, france, the netherlands, and canada. her work has been featured in publications including bmore Art, new american paintings, british vogue, uk house and garden, artmaze mag, dc modern luxury, create!mag, and dwell magazine.
emma childs’ in her baltimore studio
jean alexander frater’s paintings explore a dynamic relationship between form, structure, and gravity. her work is made by painting on canvas, then tearing the painted forms into strips and layering them onto a rectangular frame, reducing the scale by a third. this process allows her to create appendages or bumps that extend the two-dimensional painted forms into sculptural bodies. frater’s paintings challenges notions of containment and perception, as the painted forms extend into the surrounding space, creating a vibrant interplay between structure and the organic movement of the forms. these pieces resonate with the tension of what is held and what is let go, inviting contemplation of their dynamic presence.
jean alexander frater experiments with the materials inherent to painting and then integrates other histories, traditions and language into this form. frater was a 2017-2018 chicago artists bolt resident, received an mfa from the school of art the institute of chicago, and a ba in philosophy, from the university of dayton, ohio. her work has been exhibited internationally.
jean alexander frater in the studio
“about 20 years ago, i began painting directly on un-stretched raw canvas. i think this directness with the canvas, though still acting as the support to the paint, made me approach everything differently. the canvasses’ inherent materiality could not be ignored. i began experimenting in different ways of how one makes a painting. i wanted to highlight the support, and prioritizing the cotton fabric became my focus. i started folding and manipulating the canvas in various ways. this experimentation resulted in an excess of painted canvas. both out of frustration, and out of limited resources, i started tearing up my paintings. weaving the colorful strips was the next move. i liked the idea that the paintings held gestures of both destruction and care.”
edward minoff graduated with honors from nyu's tisch school of the arts. throughout his high school and college years he studied painting and sculpture at the art students league of new york, the national academy school of design, and later at vassar college. he has also copied works at the louvre, prado and the metropolitan museum of art, where he subsequently taught a class in copying master works. currently he is an instructor at the grand central atelier and columbia university and the co-host and co-creater of suggested donation podcast. prior to becoming a full time artist minoff co-founded the animation house AMPnyc, for which he produced award winning commercials, promos and pilots for mtv, disney, the cartoon network and espy. minoff has since mounted ten solo shows in new york city and san francisco. his portraits, landscapes and still life paintings have been published in numerous magazines and books and are featured in collections including the bodleian library at oxford university, the united states embassy in santa domingo, dominican republic, and the new britain museum of art.
edward minoff painting on site
all available work by each artist can be viewed on our website under their individual tabs including sizing + pricing. hidell brooks gallery is by appointment. please call the gallery if you have any further questions.